England national team and English football clubs could be removed from UEFA competitions if a new regulator is considered to be “government interference” in the sport.
Will England Face The Axe?
UEFA has written to the UK government and threatened to ban England from its competitions if there is interference with a planned regulator.
In a letter to the UK’s culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, the UEFA raised concerns about a proposed independent football regulator (IFR) in English football. The regulatory body seeks to ensure the financial sustainability of clubs and stop teams from joining breakaway competitions like the European Super League.
UEFA regulations specify there should be no government meddling in the functioning of football.
“One particular area of concern stems from one of Uefa’s fundamental requirements, which is that there should be no government interference in the running of football”, UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis wrote in his letter.
“We have specific rules that guard against this in order to guarantee the autonomy of sport and fairness of sporting competition; the ultimate sanction for which would be excluding the federation from UEFA and teams from competition,” England, who have finished as runners-up in the last two European Championships, is slated to co-host the 2028 edition of the tournament.”
Should UEFA impose its ultimate sanction of axing the English Football Association, the England team would be blocked from competing in the Euros.
The implications would also affect Premier League clubs who could be barred from the Champions League and other competitions organized by the the European football governing body.
Contentions in the Bill
The UK government’s Football Governance Bill would give an independent regulator powers to safeguard the future of clubs. It includes strengthened tests over who can run or own clubs.
In the letter, the football body said, “Normally football regulation should be managed by the national federation.”
The body stated it was alarmed by what it described as “scope creep” by a regulator into areas beyond “the long-term financial sustainability of clubs and heritage assets.”
UEFA claimed if all countries established regulators with wide-reaching powers it would hinder its ability to maintain effective governance across Europe. It wants England’s regulator to be “strictly limited” to the long-term financial sustainability of clubs and heritage assets.
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In Defence of the Bill
A UK government spokesperson said, “The Football Governance Bill will establish a new Independent Football Regulator that will put fans back at the heart of the game, and tackle fundamental governance problems to ensure that English football is sustainable for the benefit of the clubs’ communities going forward.”
