Starmer bows to football bosses with U-turn after England threatens ban | Politics | News

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected government plans for football regulators to take foreign policy into account when deciding on club ownership, amid threats of a ban on the European Championships in England.

The Prime Minister bowed to demands from world football authorities who threatened to ban English teams from Euro 2028 because of “state interference”.

His latest U-turn followed pressure from Uefa to scrap a controversial clause that would have required football’s new independent regulator to take “foreign and trade policy” into account when making decisions about club ownership and directors.

However, Lisa Nandy confirmed that the requirement to take into account the government’s foreign policy had been dropped to “cement the full independence of the regulator”.

The Culture Secretary said: “English football is one of our greatest exports and a source of national pride that this government wants to see thrive for generations to come.”

“But for too long financial instability has meant loyal fans and entire communities have risked losing the clubs they love due to mismanagement and reckless spending.”

Ministers will address the “significant issues” facing the financial sustainability of elite men’s football in England with the introduction of a Football Governance Bill in the House of Lords tomorrow.

This also includes surveying football fans about ticket prices and stadium relocations as part of government plans to revise sporting rules.

Ms Nandy said: “This Bill aims to redress the balance by putting fans back at the heart of the game, taking on rogue owners and crucially helping to put clubs across the country on solid financial footing. “

UEFA had previously warned the Labor government that there were several areas of the Football Governance Bill that had crossed the line and could be seen as government interference in football.

Theodore Theodoridis, the general secretary of the European Football Association, wrote to Ms Nandy warning that government interference would not be accepted and that “the ultimate sanction would be to ban the association from UEFA and the teams from the competition”.

The law will give a body independent of the government and football authorities the power to oversee clubs in England’s top five divisions.

It follows the attempted exit from the European Super League and a series of high-profile cases of clubs being mismanaged financially.

The regulator will now have the power to force clubs to democratically select the fan representatives it must work with, rather than clubs making a unilateral decision.

Elite Premier League clubs must also give relegated teams a share of profits from TV rights and other lucrative sources of income.

The regulator will also be tasked with including parachute payments when assessing finances across the game.

Excluding these payments would have significantly limited the regulator’s ability to gain a comprehensive view of financial stability and resilience across the football pyramid, the government said.