IFR Report: 94% of English Clubs Loss-Making, 32 Face Insolvency in 30 Days

The Independent Football Regulator has published a 'State of the Game' report finding that 94 per cent of the 160 clubs it regulates are loss-making, and 32 clubs hold less than 30 days' cash cover. The IFR warns urgent reform is needed to protect clubs and fans.

Report by: Independent Football Regulator (IFR)
Key figures: £9bn+ revenue, 94% of clubs loss-making, 32 clubs with <30 days' cash cover, 17 EFL/National League clubs with costs exceeding revenues, 60%+ technically insolvent, 25%+ unable to survive a month without owner funding
Warning: "dangerous cocktail of rising debt and an over-reliance on owner funding"
Solution: Six-point reform plan including revenue redistribution, cost controls, and licensing from November
Quote: IFR chair David Kogan: "If the owner walks away or drops dead, they're insolvent and go bust"
Next step: Premier League and EFL distribution deal still under negotiation; IFR can apply a "back-stop" power if no agreement is reached

What was said

"I think what we see in English football is two completely different positions. The first is £9bn comes in every year, yet we have 94 per cent of the clubs of the 160 we regulate are trading unprofitably. We have 32 clubs that have got less than 30 days' cash cover in their accounts. So if the owner walks away or drops dead, they're insolvent and go bust."
— David Kogan, Chair of the IFR, speaking to Sky

"So what we see in football is rising debt. It's a problem of cash cover and liquidity within clubs, and it's a lack of management, and what financial management? And now we're in a position to help those clubs achieve a more stable future."
— David Kogan

"What we're implying is today there's enough money going through into the Premier League and the EFL and into their individual clubs for the sun to shine. This is exactly the moment when we need to address structural issues because once that sun stops shining, those clubs will be in real trouble."
— David Kogan

"So what we are trying to do is get ahead of the problem and take an interventionist approach with individual clubs that need it to help them get to the point of being stable and secure because too many clubs get close to the edge and depend on one thing and one thing only, which is a new owner coming down the track. That supply of owners may dry up, and supply of media money may dry out so we have to now get ahead of the game and give them levels of security and stability that allow them to go into the future."
— David Kogan

"There are three moves that are taking place that we think will help on this. First is that the Premier League and the EFL are currently discussing a new distribution deal with the game, which will radically change the amount of money going from the Premier League down to the lower leagues. And that will have associated with it controls on how that money is spent, which actually will go to the stability of those lower leagues, but we're going to see more money flowing down, assuming the deal is done, and we're going to see cost controls involved in that. The second is that from November onwards we're going to be licensing clubs, and by licensing those clubs we're going to intervene directly in individual clubs where we think they've got exposures that we can help them resolve and that includes things like having a business plan that involves having cash cover more than 30 days; it involves having genuine provision for the debts that they've raised. And the third thing we're doing is working with leagues to actually look at cost controls over a longer-term basis to actually build in financial stability as we go forward."
— David Kogan

Kogan's language is unusually blunt for a regulator: "insolvent and go bust" is not the phrasing of a body that believes the game can drift on unchanged. The emphasis on cash cover, rather than profit and loss, reframes the crisis. A club can post a paper profit and still fail if its owner withdraws overnight. That is the scenario the IFR is determined to prevent.

The three measures Kogan outlines — a new distribution deal, licensing from November, and longer-term cost controls — are not isolated fixes. They form a sequence: more money down the pyramid, strings attached to how it is spent, and a licensing regime that can step in before a crisis becomes terminal. The message to owners is clear: the era of relying on a rescue buyer is over.

The numbers

£9bn+ — revenue generated by English football, yet 94% of the IFR's 160 regulated clubs are loss-making.
32 clubs — have less than 30 days' cash cover in their accounts; if owner funding is withdrawn they would be insolvent.
17 EFL and National League clubs — incurring costs exceeding revenues; they would be loss-making even if they did not pay their players.
More than 60% — of EFL and National League clubs are technically insolvent, with liabilities exceeding the book value of their assets.
More than a quarter — of clubs would be unable to survive for more than one month if owner funding was withdrawn, with the majority lacking a basic contingency plan.
8 times — the average Premier League club's revenue compared to an average Championship club, highlighting the "financial cliff-edges between and within leagues".

The IFR's six-point reform plan

The report issues a six-point plan to address the issues identified. It includes measures for clubs to improve how they manage financial risk, including holding more cash and putting robust contingency plans in place in case owner funding is withdrawn.

It also outlines how revenue distribution should be reformed to ease cliff-edges throughout the pyramid, urges action on rising losses, and calls on clubs to show how they take fans' views into account, and the steps they are taking to improve diversity and governance in the boardroom.

On distribution, the IFR's stated goals are to: maintain the Premier League as the leading football league in the world and the Championship as the leading second-tier competition; maintain vital funding for the wider game; mitigate the financial impact of relegation from the Premier League; reduce the distortive impact that parachute payments have on financial incentives within the Championship; protect clubs by giving them the opportunity to rebuild their balance sheets and reduce risk; and consider short-term support to clubs that face severe financial distress.

Why the Premier League's wealth is the problem

The report does not criticise the Premier League's success. It acknowledges that the top flight has driven economic success, making English football the "richest, best and most deeply competitive in the world". The issue is the gap beneath it. The average Premier League club makes more than eight times the revenues of an average Championship club, and parachute payments are identified as a cause of significant overspend in the Championship.

That imbalance creates a perverse incentive. Clubs chasing promotion take big risks on player wages, knowing the financial reward of reaching the Premier League is transformative. If they fail, the fallout is severe. The IFR's licensing regime, which begins in November, will target exactly those clubs — requiring business plans with cash cover beyond 30 days and genuine provision for debts.

The Premier League and EFL have been negotiating a new distribution model for several years without agreement. The IFR has consistently said it prefers a deal between the two leagues, but has again raised the possibility of applying a "back-stop" power to intervene if they cannot agree. That threat now carries more weight given the report's findings.

Talking points

The IFR's 30-day cash cover rule could force clubs to hoard millions rather than invest in players — will that make the pyramid more stable or simply less competitive?
Parachute payments are branded distortive, but removing them could plunge relegated clubs into immediate crisis. Is there a middle ground that doesn't punish ambition?
Licensing from November gives the IFR direct power over individual clubs. Should a regulator have that much say in how a privately owned business is run?
With 94% of clubs loss-making despite £9bn in revenue, the problem isn't a lack of money — it's where the money goes. Are owners and agents the real issue?

What happens next

The Premier League and EFL continue talks over a new distribution deal. If no agreement is reached, the IFR has said it could use its back-stop power to intervene. From November, the IFR will begin licensing clubs, with the power to demand business plans showing cash cover beyond 30 days and genuine provision for debts. A quarter of clubs have less than a month's survival without owner funding — that deadline is now the sharpest in English football.

Frequently asked questions

How many clubs are loss-making according to the IFR report?

94 per cent of the 160 clubs regulated by the IFR are trading unprofitably, despite English football generating over £9bn in revenue.

What is the IFR's 30-day cash cover rule?

From November, the IFR will license clubs and require business plans that include cash cover of more than 30 days. Currently, 32 clubs have less than 30 days' cash cover.

Was there a quote from David Kogan about clubs going bust?

Yes. Kogan told Sky: "If the owner walks away or drops dead, they're insolvent and go bust." He was describing the 32 clubs with less than 30 days' cash cover.