THE NEW FOOTBALL REGULATOR

On Thursday 23 February 2023, following much anticipation, the UK Government Department for Culture, Media & Sport (‘DCMS’) published its White Paper “A sustainable future - reforming club football governance.” [1] It has been described as the “biggest shake up in football for decades”, “revolutionary” and “landmark”. These are not exaggerations. The government proposals represent the first and only independent statutory regulator of football.

Much has already been said about the White Paper, with most commentators broadly welcoming the proposals, the Premier League offering some caution, and the EFL suggesting they do not go far enough. In this article, I discuss a few of the interesting and difficult legal issues that occur to me, in the hope of generating further discussion in the lead up to the important legislation that shall bring in the Regulator.

The full article is available to read here.