Thirty-two clubs across English football would run out of cash within 30 days if their owners stopped writing cheques, the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) said in its first full audit of the English game, published on 13 October 2026.
The report covers the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and National League. It found that 94% of clubs in those competitions ran at a loss last season even though the English game generated more than £9 billion in revenue, more than any other football ecosystem in the world.
Seventeen EFL and National League clubs have operating costs that exceed revenues before a wage is paid, meaning they would be loss-making even if their players played for free. More than 60% of EFL and National League clubs are technically insolvent.
IFR chair David Kogan did not soften the diagnosis in his foreword to the report.
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“At the heart of English football’s success is a massive contradiction. While some of our clubs are among the richest and most competitive in the world, others are standing on the edge of financial disaster.”
“Skyrocketing revenues have been outpaced by costs which in turn have pushed up debt, loss-making and an over-reliance on owner funding.”
Total debt in the English game is projected to pass £5 billion by the end of this season, with net transfer debt alone running at roughly £3.4 billion.
Relegation now wipes £70m off a club
The gap between the top of the pyramid and the rest keeps widening. Premier League clubs on average earned around eight times more than Championship clubs in the most recent season audited by the regulator. A single relegation from the top flight now erases roughly £70 million of annual revenue.
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That cliff edge is what the IFR wants to flatten. Parachute payments, the compensation paid to recently relegated Premier League clubs, had been shielded from outside intervention. They are now in scope. Kogan said the proposed changes would redirect money toward mid-table Championship clubs and reduce what relegated clubs receive on the way down.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, whose department steered the Football Governance Act through Parliament, said the findings confirmed the case for independent oversight.
“Football fans for years have lived with the anxiety of knowing their club could be one bad owner or poor month away from ruin.”
Kogan ready to force a settlement
For more than two years the Premier League and EFL have tried, without success, to agree a new financial distribution deal. The Premier League has tabled roughly £1.8 billion over 10 years. The EFL has asked for £1 billion over five.
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Kogan has restated his preference that both leagues reach their own agreement. The back-stop power to impose a settlement, written into the Football Governance Act, sits with the regulator if they cannot.
The Premier League said it welcomed much of the diagnosis and insisted its existing offer already meets the regulator’s objectives.
“The report recognises what English football has built: the world’s most popular league, the leading second tier, and a pyramid of unmatched depth.”
“The Premier League shares the IFR’s preference that there should be a football-led solution to revenue distributions.”
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Licensing begins next month
IFR chief executive Richard Monks warned that clubs would test the limits of any new rules.
“They understand what’s going on, and crucially, they’re a cynical bunch. Your job as an effective regulator is to anticipate that, and therefore both write the rules but also supervise in a way that you manage those issues.”
From November 2026, every club in the Premier League, EFL and National League begins receiving licences conditional on financial stability, governance and fan engagement. The IFR’s six-point plan sets a 2030 deadline for clubs to demonstrate “Appropriate Financial Resources”, requires stronger cash reserves, calls for fairer redistribution across the pyramid and asks for more diverse boardrooms.
The draft report now enters an eight-week public consultation. The regulator’s first annual risk assessment is due in spring 2028.
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