If a Premier League club or its parent company suffers an insolvency event, the board can suspend the club by written notice and can dock nine points; the club then has seven days to appeal on Form 3.
What counts as an insolvency event
These are the events that bring a club within the insolvency rules.
| Event | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Company voluntary arrangement | The club agrees a voluntary arrangement or another compromise with its creditors as a whole |
| Administration | An administrator is appointed, or the club, its shareholders or its directors file notice or apply to the court to appoint one |
| Receivership | A receiver is appointed over assets the board considers material to the club meeting its obligations as a league member |
| Moratorium | A statutory moratorium comes into force |
| Winding up | Shareholders resolve to wind the club up, a creditors' meeting is convened, a winding-up order is made or a provisional liquidator is appointed |
| Overseas equivalent | The club enters a comparable insolvency regime outside England and Wales |
The trigger is not limited to the club itself. The same framework applies if the parent company suffers an insolvency event. It also covers a decision to stop trading when that step is not part of a reconstruction, amalgamation or scheme approved in writing by the board.
What a suspension stops
The board can suspend the club by written notice, and it must consider the wider interests of the competition when using these powers.
Unless the board postpones the suspension, the club cannot play in any league match, any approved competition, the youth games programmes, the professional development leagues, or any other match. The restriction reaches beyond first-team league fixtures.
If the suspension is postponed, the club still cannot apply to register a player or have a player's registration transferred to it. The board can also attach any further conditions it thinks fit for as long as the postponement lasts.
How league money can be used to pay football creditors
The board can direct money otherwise due to the club toward football creditors instead.
That money can come from broadcast, commercial and radio revenue. The creditors who can be paid in this way include the FA and its member clubs, the league, the EFL and the other leagues named in the rules, the Professional Footballers' Association, the Football Foundation, employees owed arrears of wages, and pension providers. Once the board is reasonably satisfied that those football creditors have been settled, it can withdraw the suspension.
Points deduction and appeal
The sanction and appeal route work as follows.
| Issue | Rule outcome |
|---|---|
| Points deduction | nine points |
| How it is applied | Taken from points the club has already scored or has yet to score |
| Notice | The board must give written notice |
| Appeal deadline | Within seven days from the date of the notice |
| Appeal form | Form 3 |
An appeal succeeds only on a narrow basis. The club must prove, on the balance of probabilities, both that the insolvency resulted directly from circumstances outside normal business risks that it could not reasonably be expected to control, and that its officials used all due diligence to avoid those circumstances.
Meeting only one of those tests is not enough. Both have to be made out for the appeal to succeed.
FAQ
How many points can the board deduct for going into administration?
The board can impose a deduction of nine points. Those points can be taken from the club's existing total or from points it earns later.
Who decides an appeal against the sanction?
The appeal goes to a tribunal made up of three judicial panel members appointed by the chair of the panel. The tribunal must include an authorised insolvency practitioner, and the chair of the tribunal must be a legally qualified member.
Is the tribunal's decision final?
Yes. The decision is final and binding on the club. The rules do not add another internal appeal stage after that tribunal ruling.