LONDON (Reuters) – UEFA has warned the UK government that England risk a ban from the Euro 2028 tournament they are co-hosting if Prime Minister Keir Starmer goes ahead with existing plans for a men’s football regulator, British media reported on Saturday.
In a letter to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, obtained by The Times and the BBC, European soccer governing body UEFA’s General Secretary Theodore Theodoridis said there should be “no government interference in the running of football”.
According to the letter, Theodoridis cautioned against plans outlined in the King’s Speech to give the new regulator the power to oversee clubs in England’s top five leagues, saying the game’s independence was a “fundamental requirement”.
“One particular area of concern stems from one of UEFA’s fundamental requirements, which is that there should be no government interference in the running of football,” Theodoridis wrote.
“We have specific rules that guard against this in order to guarantee the autonomy of sport and fairness of sporting competition; the ultimate sanction for which would be excluding the federation from UEFA and teams from competition.”
The previous government had announced plans to appoint a regulator last year, saying it was necessary to protect clubs from financial mismanagement and to stop wealthy teams from joining breakaway leagues.
Starmer’s government committed to the regulator in the Labour Party manifesto after being elected in July.
Theodoridis told Nandy that UEFA is “concerned about the potential for scope creep within the IFR (Independent Football Regulator).”
UEFA did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
“The Football Governance Bill will establish a new Independent Football Regulator that will put fans back at the heart of the game, and tackle fundamental governance problems to ensure that English football is sustainable for the benefit of the clubs’ communities going forward,” a Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport spokesperson said in a statement.
England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are co-hosting the 2028 European Championship.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing and Tommy Lund; additional reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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