Guardian: New Premier League financial rules ban clubs from selling hotels or women s football team to related parties to inflate revenue

On November 22, the "Guardian" reported that Premier League clubs have voted to adopt a new financial rule system called the lineup cost ratio. This system will replace the current profitability and sustainable development rules and will be officially implemented next season.

According to the new regulations, a club’s total lineup expenditure on player transfer fees and wages must not exceed 85% of its total football-related revenue. It is worth noting that the new regulations have closed previous policy loopholes and explicitly prohibit clubs from inflating revenue by selling assets such as hotels or women's teams to related parties. Clubs such as Chelsea and Everton have previously used such operations to circumvent the rules.

In terms of penalties for violations, clubs whose expenditures exceed the 85% green threshold will be fined, and the fines will be allocated to compliant clubs; while clubs whose expenditures exceed the 115% red threshold will face sports competitive penalties such as point deductions.

At Friday's meeting, the lineup cost ratio motion was supported by 14 clubs, but the controversial "anchoring" plan for a hard spending cap was rejected by 12 votes against.

In addition, the Premier League also confirmed that in order to allow sufficient recovery time for players participating in the 2026 World Cup, the opening of the 2026-27 season will be postponed to August 22, a week later than usual.