Over the weekend a story dropped that sent alarm bells ringing for many who had been confident that the establishment of an independent football regulator was a mere tap-in away.
A five-page letter from Uefa general secretary Theodore Theodoridis to culture secretary Lisa Nandy was leaked to The Sunday Times, which reported on its front page: “England risk ban from their own Euros” in a story that appeared on Saturday evening.
Throughout Sunday, campaigners took to social media, TV and radio to pour doubt on the troubling questions Uefa had raised.
Will England be banned from Euro 2028 if a regulator is formed? Will Premier League clubs be kicked out of the Champions League? The very short answer is no. But there remains a big caveat.
What did Uefa’s letter state?
Many have been of the long-held view that the proposed powers of the independent regulator meant that the idea it would breach Fifa and Uefa rules preventing governments from interfering in the running of domestic football wasn’t a prospect worth entertaining.
But this letter, dated 2 September, was a very real and credible threat from Uefa. Sources indicated to i that while Uefa is not worried about the regulator itself, the European governing body is concerned about the potential reach of its powers.
“Uefa is concerned about the potential for scope creep within the IFR,” the letter, seen by i, states.
“While the initial intent of the IFR is to oversee the long-term financial sustainability of clubs and heritage assets, there is always a risk that, once established, the IFR may expand its mandate beyond these areas.
“This expansion, intentional or otherwise, into broader aspects of football governance could undermine the established structures and processes of the sport, and amount to government interference.”
The threat to expel England from Uefa competitions – including Euro 2028; to be hosted by England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales – and clubs from the Champions League, is made explicitly. Albeit, in a letter overwhelmingly positive in tone, the threat of expulsion is meant as a last resort and rated as extremely unlikely by multiple sources.
Why is Uefa concerned about the regulator?
One of the particularly intriguing and tangible elements of Theodoridis’s letter is that it states clearly that the continuing financial regulation of clubs must be left to the leagues and Uefa.
Ensuring the overall sustainability of clubs is meant to be one of the key pillars of the regulator, yet the letter asserts that the new body can only concern itself with long-term compliance, essentially to ensure clubs don’t go bust, as opposed to interfering in how much they spend.
Another significant concern is that in its current state the regulator would consider the alignment of owners – current and future – to the Government’s foreign and trade policy objectives in any decisions whether to permit ownership, which seems an obvious sticking point when governments are not permitted, in Uefa and Fifa rules, to encroach on football.
What has the reaction been?
The story forced campaigners for the independent regulator to speak out about the prospect of expulsions and competitions bans.
“I don’t post much anymore but feel the need to on this subject,” Gary Neville, the pundit and former England defender, posted on X. “Please don’t be fooled by the scaremongering regarding the independent regulator and England losing tournaments. They will do anything to stop it coming in and are happy to create misinformation and apply soft power in the right places in the meantime.”
Niall Couper, chief executive of the campaign group Fair Game, said: “The DCMS have been over this ground a hundred times. This is nothing short of a scare story.
“With 58 per cent of the top 92 [clubs in England] technically insolvent, annual losses of £10m a year in the Championship viewed as ‘a success’, football is an industry in desperate need of financial reform.
“The Government should not be derailed by such nonsense.”
But while they were right to shoot down the prospect of any kind of sanctions, Uefa’s letter is a warning that should not be ignored.
A spokesman for the DCMS said: “The regulator will not compromise the independence of the football authorities. We are working closely with Uefa and the FA on the development of the Football Governance Bill, which will stay firmly focused around financial sustainability and heritage protection of the sport.”
You can suspect that, following the letter, some of the clauses and phrasing will be sharpened to avoid the embarrassing prospect of England being banned from its own European Championship.
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