Premier League: “The clock is ticking” on the showdown with the EFL, says the regulator

“The clock is ticking” for the Premier League and EFL to end their financial predicament, says the head of football’s independent regulatory body.

Leagues are in talks about how the Premier League can help support the football pyramid, including controversial parachute payments as well as solidarity payments – a set sum paid to each Premier League club twice a season.

The Premier League and the EFL have been arguing over an agreement reached in 2019, and have been unable to find common ground on a new settlement.

The talks were canceled in 2023 and 2025 without reaching an agreement.

David Coogan told the Financial Times Business of Football Summit that if an agreement is not reached, FIFA may intervene.

He said that if that happened, it would be a “terrible failure for football.”

Kogan said there was a “stagnation in finding a new settlement in football” – which is not good for the game.

He said: “From now on, it is in football’s interest to try to reach this understanding.” “My message today is that the pyramid needs to remain as it is today. To do that, English football must come together and end this uncertainty, and it must do it now.”

“Ultimately we are [the IFR] We can intervene and find a solution.

“We don’t want to do that. We want football to find a solution, and we want to find it quickly. But if the leagues cannot reach a new agreement, those powers will be activated, and we will look at things like the current mechanism for parachute payments.”

“By our mandate, we are there to make the game more sustainable. I hope this letter opens up the process again. The clock is ticking. The opportunity is there. We are there to help football find those solutions.”

EFL chairman Rick Barry said he was keen to reach an agreement. He warned that the current system was creating a situation where Championship clubs were buying “the most expensive lottery ticket on the planet”.

“We believe that clubs should be able to go up and down, and we should take sporting risks, but without financial disaster,” Barry said.

“In 1992-1993 [the first year of the Premier League] The gap between turnover in the Premier League and the English Football League was £11 million. It now stands at £3.4 billion. Premier League sales increased 80 times. The number of EFL has grown by six.

“It needs a radical rethink, and we believe it is completely doable.

“Operating losses averaged £17m. Debt was now £1.5bn and wages were more than 100% of turnover losses. It is the most expensive lottery ticket on the planet that clubs are chasing to reach the Premier League and an unequal struggle with the Umbrella Club.

“So for us, parachute payments are a major issue that needs to be addressed.”