New EFL rule changes confirmed ahead of the 2022/23 season

New EFL rule changes have been confirmed ahead of the 2022/23 season to not only help clubs and players, but football fans too.

At Friday’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Football League Clubs approved a number of regulation changes that will come into effect immediately. Discussions were also expected to be held over the future of the 3pm blackout for broadcasting fixtures – although the Premier League and Championship are unenthusiastic. Could change be on the way when the league’s TV deal expires in 2024?

With so much debated over and agreed at today’s meeting, time to look at what is changing…

Substitutions

For all League fixtures going forward, Clubs will be allowed to name up to seven substitutes on their team sheet with no more than five being able to take part in the match.

For League matches during the 2021/22 season, Clubs were able to field three substitutes from seven nominated, which has now increased following today’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) when EFL Clubs approved a number of regulation changes that will come into effect immediately.

Each Club is only permitted a maximum of three opportunities to make substitutions during the fixture and a Club may make more than the one substitution at each of its three opportunities. Clubs may make substitutions at half time and any substitutions made during this break will not count towards the maximum of three opportunities.

Owners’ and Directors’ Test disqualifying condition – Hate Crime

The EFL has added an additional Disqualifying Condition in its Owners and Directors’ Test for those that have been convicted of a Hate Crime, which is defined as an offence that is considered to be aggravated in accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Sentencing Act 2020.

Mandatory Articles

Clubs will now be required to include a Mandatory Article within their Articles of Association which states that the Directors of the Club may refuse to register the transfer of any share where:

– the EFL has not confirmed its consent to the acquisition of Control

– the EFL has not confirmed that that such Person is not liable to be disqualified

– if registering the transfer of any share would cause the Club to breach any other equivalent rule or regulation of another body such as the Premier League or the Football Association

Kits

A Home Club will now be able to wear its ‘away’ or third kit where a clash may occur that would make it difficult for people who are colour blind to differentiate between the kits worn by both teams.

The amendment also allows Clubs to further ‘mix and match’ elements of their registered kits in order to avoid kit clashes. The EFL will also play a more active role in helping Clubs identify where a potential ‘colour blind kit clash’ may occur to give them adequate notice so that all necessary arrangements can be made in advance.

At an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) earlier in February 2022, EFL Clubs approved changes to Regulations in respect of self-reporting of unpaid player salaries and the summer transfer window, alongside ratifying the League’s Annual Accounts.

Regulation 53 – Self-Reporting of Unpaid Player salary

A new requirement for Clubs to self-report instances of non-payment of player wages has been introduced to reflect the views of both the League and its Clubs that non-payment of salary obligations is a serious breach of Regulations.

With immediate effect Clubs must now notify the League within two working days of the due date if they have failed to meet their financial obligations to a player or players. Any Club in default of payments to players will, as is the case currently, be subject to an immediate registration embargo.

If a Club defaults on payments, it will be able to accept a sanction by way of an ‘Agreed Decision,’ which must be ratified by an Independent Chair in accordance with EFL Regulations. Alternatively, the Club can elect to have the matter determined by a full Independent Disciplinary Commission. New sanctioning guidelines have also been introduced, ranging from a suspended sporting sanction to multiple points deductions.

Today’s changes follow a comprehensive review by the League and its Clubs into instances of non-payment and will allow any alleged misconduct to be addressed in a timely manner without requiring prior notification of breaches from the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Regulation 42 – Summer Transfer Window

The EFL and its Clubs have agreed to open the summer domestic transfer window in line with the international transfer window.  As a result, and subject to the day of the week, the domestic summer window will open 12 weeks prior to the closure of the registration window and not the day after a Club’s season concludes as has been the case in previous years. The EFL will confirm the opening date of the summer 2022 window in due course.

Annual Accounts

EFL Clubs have approved The Football League Limited Annual Report and consolidated financial statements for the period ending 31 July 2021. These will now be filed at Companies House in accordance with the Companies Act 2006.

EFL Championship Clubs have approved a number of changes to the division’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (P&S) that will take effect immediately. The amendments come following a period of consultation and take into consideration a range of representations from Clubs.

In total 8 proposals were put forward and were passed, requiring a two-thirds majority of Championship Clubs. The main changes are summarised below.

COVID

As a result of a number of Clubs highlighting that the pandemic continues to have an adverse financial effect despite a return to full capacity stadiums, Clubs have opted to reintroduce COVID add backs into the P&S calculation for season 2021/22.  The impact is that Clubs will be able to claim lost revenues or exceptional costs directly relating to the pandemic up to a value of £2.5m for the reporting period 2021/22. Clubs can claim up to £5m for seasons 2019/20 and 2020/21.

Accounting for Player Registrations

Clubs are now required to provide a Player Registration schedule that will ensure greater transparency in respect of information that includes but is not limited to players wages, sell-on rights, registration costs and amortisation.  These new requirements follow the principles of the UEFA Club Financial Fair Play Regulations.

In addition, EFL Clubs have agreed that a mandatory requirement for the amortisation of Player Registrations on a straight-line basis should be included.

Introduction of Monitoring for Forecasted Breaches

With a priority to ensure future compliance with the P&S rules, Clubs have agreed that where a breach is forecasted in future years then the League should have the ability to impose a business plan or appropriate monitoring requirements.

Trevor Birch, EFL Chief Executive said: “Over the past two years of unprecedented challenges and upheaval, the priority of the EFL has been to support Clubs practically wherever possible while maintaining the ongoing integrity of our competitions and the League as a collective. I’m pleased to say that the changes agreed by Clubs will help them manage ongoing financial issues in the short term, while providing the League with additional powers to assist Clubs in complying with their P&S obligations going forward.”

Board members

Millwall Chief Executive Steve Kavanagh has been appointed to the EFL Board following the election of a new Championship representative at the Summer Conference.

Kavanagh, who previously served as the Championship’s alternate director, succeeds Nicholas Randall QC following Nottingham Forest’s promotion to the Premier League and he joins fellow Championship representatives Peter Ridsdale (Preston North End) and Neil Bausor (Middlesbrough).

Following the expiry of their current terms, League One and League Two representatives Jez Moxey (Burton Albion), Steve Curwood (Fleetwood Town) and John Nixon (Carlisle United) have been duly re-appointed and will continue in their positions subject to promotion and relegation.

The Board has also agreed to use the power afforded in its Articles of Association to extend Senior Independent Non-Executive Director Debbie Jevans CBE’s final term by 12 months and fellow Independent Director, Simon Bazalgette, has also been re-elected.

EFL Chair, Rick Parry said: “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Steve on to the EFL Board and to also place on record, on behalf of all Clubs, my thanks to all Board Members who play a key role in making big decisions on a regular basis. There has been a real sense of unity across the divisions since the onset of the pandemic which has been heartening.

“In addition, and with continuity in mind, the Board also wished to retain the experience and expertise of Debbie and Simon as it considers, and responds to, the governance changes as set out in the Fan-Led Review.”

In addition, the EFL has added an additional Disqualifying Condition in its Owners and Directors’ Test for those that have been convicted of a Hate Crime, which is defined as an offence that is considered to be aggravated in accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Sentencing Act 2020.

Fans reacted to the new EFL rule changes confirmed ahead of the 2022/23 season…

No cap on in away ticket prices though. Will end up paying more to watch Championship football than Premier League again this season

— Matt (@Cobby1889) June 10, 2022

@THT1878: Will they still allow dodgy takeovers ? Continue to stitch up clubs like Derby and Wigan? Hmm they’re just as bad as the PL

@Jay89R: Fuck the EFL. Address proper issues like ticket prices (twenty is plenty) & ropey takeovers

@JasonHolyhead: What a world we live in when we need rules to prevent owners committing hate crimes.

@Rufcjoe87: Great stuff. Especially 5 subs. Means more chance of changing a game, more game time for fringe players to impress and less getting tired as can use more. #rufc

@STB_93: Five subs is gash. Totally unnecessary

@tom_goulden: This could be a major benefit for some teams, our bench was fairly strong all season and being able to use 5 subs would give us i feel, abit of an advantage. Probably a little unfair on the teams with a lower budget 🤷🏻‍♂️

@AshleySLawrence: Five subs becoming the norm is really lame. Quite apart from the obvious points about how it tilts the scales even more in favour of the richer clubs, it means we’re even less likely to see players going in goal who have absolutely no idea what they’re doing

@MightyMillers20: Warney will be absolutely delighted

@tlmfootball: I’ve always been undecided about five subs in EFL, especially in L1/2 where most clubs won’t have a big squad except those with £££. Definitely benefits some more than others

@salopcast: Another reason for clubs to over spend

@uglygame: It would a bitter irony to make a hate crime conviction a disqualifying offence when there is a current club owner who oversees systematic oppression and persecution of women and LGBT people but is literally above the law.

@chrislepkowski:
This one is long overdue and makes sense given EFL’s (lack of) resources to police this adequately.
– independent panels to oversee and judge on ffp breaches

@CallumCFC_: Wonder if this new independent panel will actually crack down on all the many championship clubs cooking their books for a shot at promotion

@garyhall140269: getting rid of colour blind kits at last. If you have it you know how bad it is. Is red is it black 👍👍

@pdbeefy: Good to see that the kit clash takes into account colour blindness #colourblind