Our purpose

The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has been established to protect and promote the sustainability of English football, for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

The IFR will help improve financial sustainability of clubs, ensure resilience across the leagues, and safeguard the heritage of English football. It will operate a licensing regime; set corporate governance standards and monitor, protect, and promote financial resilience. It will also enforce compliance with requirements on financial regulation, club ownership and directors, fan engagement, and heritage protection.

The IFR will also have powers to prohibit clubs from joining competitions that are not fair or meritocratic, or that threaten the heritage or sustainability of English football.

Our objectives

The Independent Football Regulator's core objectives:

Protect and promote the financial soundness of regulated football clubs

Protect and promote financial resilience of English football

Safeguard the heritage of English football

Our Current Status

The IFR has been created as a result of the Football Governance Act receiving Royal Assent on 21 July 2025. The Act and subsequent establishment of the IFR represents the biggest change to the governance of English club football since the creation of the Premier League in 1992.

Given the well-publicised financial stress faced by clubs in recent years, the IFR will approach its mission with urgency. However, change cannot happen overnight.

The IFR is expected to be fully established in the autumn when the organisation will have a Chair, Chief Executive Officer and Non-Executive Directors in place. We will be headquartered in Manchester with an office to be confirmed.

This website will be updated and expanded as the steps required for the full establishment of the IFR are concluded.

The following sets out what clubs can expect over the next two years:

IFR Leadership

David Kogan OBEChair

David has held senior positions in the television and sports industries during a 45-year career as a media executive, business leader and corporate advisor. David negotiated a succession of multi-billion pound TV rights deals on behalf of major sporting bodies, including the Premier League and the English Football League. David has also advised UEFA, The Scottish Premier League, Six Nations, Premier Rugby and the NFL. Most recently he sold the broadcast rights on behalf of  the Women's Super League.

David is a former managing director of Reuters Television, and an ex-CEO of the Magnum photo agency. David has co-founded both Reel Enterprises and the Women’s Sports Group. David is currently an advisor to the New York Times Group and CNN on their commercial, digital and AI strategies. Among his public boards David was a non-executive director at Channel 4, a member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Services board from 2007-14 and Chair of Westminster Kingsway Corporation. David is the author of three books.

Richard MonksChief Executive Officer

Richard is a former partner at EY’s financial risk and regulation practice, advising regulators on Government’s growth objective and financial services clients on regulatory implementation. At the Financial Conduct Authority, he held senior strategy, policy and supervisory roles, leading on market-wide analysis, Brexit implementation and design of new financial regimes for investment firms. He also created the FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime.

In 2022, Richard was seconded into DCMS to design the financial regime which underpins the Football Governance Act.

Simon LevineNon-Executive Director

Simon Levine has been a practising lawyer in the City of London for over 35 years providing litigation and regulatory advice across a range of sectors including technology, media and sport. Until late 2024, Simon was for a decade the managing partner and co-global chief executive officer of a global law firm. He now acts as a strategic consultant to businesses in the technology, legal and professional services sectors. Since 2018 Simon has sat on the board of the regulator for higher education in England, the Office for Students. He has also been a member of advisory boards of the Zoological Society of London, City UK, the International Development Business Exchange, and the Lord Mayor of London, and is an Ambassador for His Majesty King Charles' III’s Sustainable Markets Initiative.

Dame Helen StephensonNon-Executive Director

Dame Helen Stephenson is a Non-Executive Director and former Chief Executive of the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The Commission is a non-ministerial government department which employs around 400 staff and is responsible regulating over 169,000 charities. She joined the Commission from the Department for Education where she was Director of Early Years and Child Care. Helen previously worked in the Cabinet Office where she was Director of the Office for Civil Society and Government Innovation Group.

Helen joined the Civil Service from the Big Lottery Fund where she was Head of Strategic Policy and Partnerships. She has worked for a large national charity as a development manager and as a researcher and consultant in the statutory and voluntary sector. Helen has a PhD from Bristol University.

Helen is a Non-Executive Board member of the National Lottery Community Fund and Chair of the People Committee. She is a Board member of the ECB Regulatory Board and on the People and Governance Committee at the Royal Academy of Dance. Helen is a Non-Executive Director for North West London Acute Provider Collaborative. Helen is a trustee of The King’s Foundation.

Helen was awarded the CBE in 2014 and was awarded a DBE in the Birthday Honours list 2024 for services to charity and regulation.

Consultations

As part of the IFR’s launch we will be conducting a series of public consultations to gather views on a range of policies that will form the basis for the IFR’s future powers. Consultation enables the IFR to create an approach that works for football and for fans.

Public consultations are open to anyone. We want to hear from a wide range of voices in order to gather as many points of view as we can.

This includes the 116 football clubs regulated by the IFR, competition owners and football industry organisations, as well as football supporters (both individuals and groups such as official supporters clubs and fan interest groups).