Football Governance Act 2025

8 The IFR’s regulatory principles

The IFR’s regulatory principles are that—

(a) it should use its resources in the most efficient, expedient and economic way;

(b) it should, so far as reasonably practicable, co-operate, and proactively and constructively engage, with—

(i) persons on whom it may impose requirements or restrictions, namely clubs, owners, senior managers and other officers of clubs, and competition organisers, and

(ii) other persons who may be affected by its decisions, including players and fans;

(c) it should, before it imposes any requirement or restriction on a person, have regard to whether the requirement or restriction is necessary and whether a similar outcome could be achieved by less burdensome means;

(d) any requirement or restriction imposed by it on a person should be proportionate to the benefits which are expected to result from that requirement or restriction;

(e) it should act in a way that has regard to the specific context of football and the fact that clubs are subject to rules, requirements and restrictions imposed by competition organisers by virtue of teams operated by those clubs being entered into, being members of, or participating in competitions organised by those organisers;

(f) it should act consistently (subject to it recognising the differences between clubs and competitions and the differences between the circumstances affecting clubs and competitions);

(g) it should act in a way that recognises the responsibilities of owners, senior managers and other officers of clubs in relation to the requirements placed on clubs under or by virtue of this Act;

(h) it should act as transparently as reasonably practicable.