One club, two rulebooks: navigating the Premier League and UEFA's financial regulations

Financial regulation in football has grown exponentially in recent years. This growth is mostly attributable to an increased emphasis on financial stability, the development of multi-level governance and the expansion of regulatory oversight. That increased financial scrutiny is felt not only domestically at Premier League level and in the context of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) established by the Football Governance Act 2025^[1], but also internationally at UEFA level.

As a result, English Premier League clubs playing in Europe are now subject to two main sets of regulations, one domestic and one European. These regulations have an overlapping scope and the interaction between them raises interesting questions about regulatory harmonisation, competitive financial advantage and enforcement.

Although the overlapping scope of the two regulations is somewhat inevitable, it comes at a great cost. One area of overlap, namely the cost capping regime, is particularly problematic, as it creates what is, in the author's view, a regrettable discrepancy between those clubs that have qualified to play in Europe and those that have not. The discrepancy appears unfair to smaller Premier League clubs, unlikely to achieve its intended goal, conducive to inequality between major European football leagues and ultimately causative of an inefficient enforcement regime at UEFA level.

Article overview

• Background
• Squad cost caps: where the Premier League and UEFA diverge
• Four flaws in the 15% rationale
  • Impact on lower-ranked clubs
  • The objective of levelling the playing-field
  • The relationship between the English Premier League and other European leagues
  • Enforcement and sanctions
• Final thoughts