After months of debate, the Football Governance Bill has finally received Royal Assent, becoming the Football Governance Act 2025. 

The Act represents a major shake-up of English men’s football, introducing an Independent Football Regulator (IFR) with powers to, among other things, scrutinise the financial plans of clubs, require prospective owners and directors to pass a series of tests to demonstrate their suitability as custodians of clubs, and prevent English clubs from joining breakaway competitions such as the European Super League. 

However, it has not been the smoothest of processes for the Act to become law. Initially introduced by the previous Government in Spring last year in response to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance, a new “strengthened” version of the Bill was later laid by the current Government (which we discussed here). Almost immediately, the Bill faced significant criticism in the House of Lords, where some 375 amendments were proposed in a bid to – according to some – derail the debate and potentially delay the Bill’s progress to such an extent that it would be very unlikely to become law.  

Ultimately, these attempts proved unsuccessful, and the Bill managed to emerge from the Lords relatively unchanged, save for a few Government amendments including  (1) adding ‘the financial growth of English football’ to the matters that the IFR must have regard to as part of its secondary duties; (2) adding players, fans and others who may be affected by the IFR’s decisions to the list of persons with whom the IFR should engage; and (3) requiring the Secretary of State to review the legislation and its impact on the industry within five years of the commencement of the licensing regime. 

Now that the Act has worked its way through the Commons and onto the statute book, the next step will be for the IFR to be launched later this year. Shortly thereafter, it will consult on its proposed rules, guidance and approach to licensing clubs before implementing the new regime. 

To read more, click here.