Yes. A Premier League club must formally adopt a written transfer policy, identify who may negotiate and approve material transactions, keep a record of each one that directors, auditors and the league can demand, and submit a league form signed and dated by every director if asked.
What counts as a material transaction
Here is what falls within a material transaction.
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Fees | Compensation fees, contingent sums and loan fees |
| Player pay | A player's remuneration, including any benefits he is entitled to receive |
| Agents | Payments to or for the benefit of football agents |
| Third party payments | Other payments or liabilities a club takes on in respect of a player, an image contract payment included |
The rules do not stop at a single payment. They also cover a series of connected payments or financial obligations relating to the same transaction, as long as they are made or undertaken by or to or in favour of a club and appear in its accounting and administration records.
Payments to a player or a football agent still count when the money is routed to a company or trust in which that person has an interest. A football agent is a natural person licensed by FIFA to perform football agent services under the FIFA football agent regulations.
What record the club must keep
For each material transaction, the club must keep particulars that are enough to identify the dates, the amounts, the payer, the payee and the nature of the transaction. The particulars may be short, but they must be enough to identify those five things.
That record must be made available on demand to the club's directors, its auditors and the league. The duty is not limited to money already paid; it also reaches financial obligations the club has undertaken.
What the club and its directors must do
The club-level requirement is to adopt a written transfer policy formally. That policy must identify who has authority on the club's behalf to negotiate material transactions and who has authority to approve them. If the league asks, the club must make the policy available.
Directors have their own duty, and that includes non-executive directors. They must take the steps reasonably necessary to satisfy themselves that the club's record of material transactions is complete and correct. Every material transaction must then be negotiated and approved in line with the written policy and documented and recorded as these rules and The Football Association's rules require.
How the directors' league form works
If the league asks for it, a club must submit a league form signed and dated by each of its directors. A director who for any reason is unwilling to sign must nevertheless submit the form, noting that unwillingness and giving full reasons for it. A director who signs the form knowing, or who ought reasonably to know, that it or any part of it is false or misleading in any way is in breach of these rules, and so is a director who notes an unwillingness to sign knowing that the note or the reasons given are false or misleading; either is dealt with under the disciplinary rules.
The form is not prepared by directors alone. Managers, players and officials must cooperate fully with the club's directors in preparing it. Refusing to sign does not remove the duty to submit the form, and false reasons for refusing carry the same disciplinary risk as a false signature.
FAQ
Who approves transfer-related deals at a Premier League club?
The rules do not assign that power to a fixed job title across all clubs. Each club's written transfer policy must identify who has authority to negotiate material transactions and who has authority to approve them on the club's behalf.
That makes the source of authority a formally adopted internal policy, not an informal instruction. The league can ask to see that policy.
What records must a Premier League club keep for a transfer-related deal?
For each material transaction, the club must keep particulars sufficient to identify the dates, amounts, payer, payee and the nature of the transaction. The duty reaches both payments and financial obligations.
The record must also be available on demand to directors, auditors and the league.
Do Premier League directors have to sign off on transfers?
If the league asks for the form, every director must sign and date it, or an unwilling director must still submit it, noting that unwillingness and giving full reasons. The duty is attached to each director, not only to the board as a body.
A director who signs the form knowing, or who ought reasonably to know, that it is false or misleading, or who gives reasons for not signing that he knows to be false or misleading, breaches the rules. Those cases are handled under the disciplinary rules.
Are payments through a company or trust outside these rules?
No. A payment to a player or a football agent still counts when it is made to a company or trust in which that person has an interest.
That means the route of payment does not remove it from the material transaction framework. The same recording and approval duties still apply.