Regulator's State of the Game report lays bare football's finances: 94% of clubs lost money last season

English football's financial gulf has been laid bare in a landmark report from the Independent Football Regulator, which found that 94% of the 116 clubs under its regime posted a financial loss during the 2025-26 season.

The long-awaited State of the Game report, launched on Tuesday by IFR chair David Kogan, paints a portrait of a pyramid in which the highest-earning top-flight club currently earns 605 times the revenue of the lowest-earning National League club. Spending has increased at all levels of the game, yet the overwhelming majority of clubs are running at a loss.

'Blown the doors off the game'

In one particularly eye-catching statistic, the report found that 11 Football League clubs recorded costs that exceeded their income even once player wages had been stripped out.

Kogan argued that a number of external factors outside the regulator's purview are affecting the game, including the expansion of the club calendar, the regulation of players' agents and the recent rise in interest rates. But he singled out one measure that could unlock change immediately: the agreement of a redistribution deal between the Premier League and the EFL.

Arguing that parachute payments to clubs relegated from the Premier League have had a "distortive effect that's grown over the years", Kogan made clear that if a deal were done that reduced parachute payments but increased the amount going to all clubs then "that will go some way towards looking at the distorted effect". Once that money was redistributed, he said, "you're going to see a softening effect going through down the 116 clubs" — meaning the top five men's divisions.

"We have powers within the legislation that allow us to review not only owners and directors and senior executives, but also whether those owners are fit and proper people to run clubs going forward," Kogan said, describing how the regulator intends to operate as it prepares to introduce a new licensing regime for clubs later this season.

How the leagues responded

The Premier League welcomed the publication of the report, arguing: "It recognises what English football has built – the world's most popular league, the leading second tier, and a pyramid of unmatched depth." The league argued that a recent offer of financial redistribution to the EFL — understood to amount to £320m per season — "meets the objectives the IFR has set out in its report" and said it "remains committed to concluding a long-term partnership with the EFL that is fair, generous and balances the interests of all clubs".

The EFL said the report's findings "reinforce the EFL's longstanding position that English football generates sufficient revenue to sustain both a successful Premier League and a thriving pyramid" and said it remained "committed to working constructively with the Premier League and the regulator to secure a financial settlement in the interests of the whole game".

Meanwhile, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Lisa Nandy, said the stark figures covered in the report had "blown the doors off the game". She urged football authorities to "consider these findings for the good of the game, for the fans, and for the communities of which they are so often the bedrock".