The Football Governance Act 2025 (Specified Competitions) Regulations 2025

Made: 20th November 2025

Coming into force: 24th November 2025

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(3) of the Football Governance Act 2025[^f00001].

The Secretary of State is content that for each competition specified in these Regulations, the teams entered into that competition, or that are members of it or participate in it, are exclusively or predominantly English teams[^f00002].

In accordance with section 91(3)(a)(i) of that Act, a draft of this instrument was laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

Citation, commencement and extent

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Football Governance Act 2025 (Specified Competitions) Regulations 2025.

• (2) These Regulations come into force on 24th November 2025.

• (3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.

Specified competitions

2

For the purposes of the Football Governance Act 2025 a “specified competition” means the following association football competitions—

• (a) the Premier League competition, organised and administered by the Football Association Premier League Limited;

• (b) the Championship, League One and League Two competitions, organised and administered by the Football League Limited; and

• (c) the Premier Division of the National League competition, organised and administered by the Football Conference Limited,

in each case comprising clubs which are for the time being, full or associate members of that body.

Signed

Stephanie Peacock — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State — Department for Culture, Media and Sport — 20th November 2025

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Explanatory Note

These Regulations prescribe the top five tiers of the men’s English football pyramid as “specified competitions” for the purposes of the Football Governance Act 2025 (“the Act”).

For clarity, Tier 1 is the Premier League, organised by the Football Association Premier League Limited. Tiers 2-4 are the English Football League, comprising the Championship (Tier 2), League One (Tier 3), and League Two (Tier 4) which are organised by the Football League Limited. Tier 5 is the Premier Division of the National League, organised by the Football Conference Limited.

A full impact assessment was prepared in relation to the Act. No further impact assessment has been produced as the effect of the Regulations is limited to applying the provisions of the Act, the impact of which has already been assessed. Copies of the Impact Assessment for the Act are available from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ and at www.legislation.gov.uk, where it may be read alongside this instrument and its Explanatory Memorandum. Hard copies of these documents are available from the same postal address.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2025 c. 21.

[^f00002]: Section 2(4) of that Act provides that a team is an “English team” if the ground at which the team customarily plays its home matches is in England.