Glossary

A power given to the Independent Football Regulator to impose a financial settlement between the Premier League and the EFL if the two cannot agree one themselves. Parachute payments were brought within its scope by amendment while the Football Governance Bill was passing.

See also: Independent Football Regulator, Parachute payments

One table within a league. The Isthmian League, for example, is a single league containing several divisions. This is why The FA's 2026-27 allocations describe 996 clubs across 48 divisions but only 19 leagues.

See also: League, National League System

The English Football League: the 72 clubs of the Championship, League One and League Two, sitting immediately below the Premier League and immediately above the National League System.

See also: National League System, The trapdoor

The portion of Premier League broadcast revenue divided equally between the twenty clubs, as distinct from the merit payments that depend on final league position and the facility fees that depend on how often a club is televised. Parachute payments are calculated as a percentage of an equal share.

See also: Parachute payments

The Act that created the Independent Football Regulator. Provisions commencing on 5 May 2026 cover owner and director suitability, approval before a club disposes of its home ground, approval before appointing administrators, and duties to keep supporters informed during insolvency.

See also: Independent Football Regulator, Backstop

The FA's minimum facility standards for each step of the National League System: floodlights, covered accommodation, seating, hard standing and so on. A club promoted into a step must meet that step's grade by a deadline, which is why a promotion can cost a small club more than it earns.

See also: National League System, Step

The statutory regulator of English football created by the Football Governance Act 2025, chaired by David Kogan. Its remit covers club licensing, owner and director suitability, financial sustainability, and the backstop power over distributions. It regulates five competitions and no more: the Premier League, the Championship, League One, League Two and the Premier Division of the National League. Everything below that is outside its remit.

See also: Backstop, State of the Game report, Football Governance Act 2025, Specified competition

An organisation that runs one or more divisions, such as the Northern Premier League or the Southern League. Nineteen leagues run the 48 divisions of the National League System.

See also: Division

The FA-governed structure of Steps 1 to 6 below the EFL. For the 2026-27 season it holds 996 clubs across 48 divisions and 19 leagues. Below it sit the regional and county feeder leagues, numbered Step 7 until the system was reorganised before 2020-21, whose champions can be promoted into Step 6. Recreational and Sunday football sits below those again, with no route into the pyramid.

See also: Step, The trapdoor, Division

Payments made to clubs relegated from the Premier League to cushion the drop in income: 55% of an equal share of broadcast revenue in the first year, 45% in the second, and 20% in the third if the club had spent more than one season in the Premier League before relegation.

See also: Equal share, Solidarity payments, Backstop

A grant fund that National League System clubs at Steps 1 to 6, and Women's Football Pyramid clubs in Tiers 1 to 4, can apply to for facilities work. It was announced at £16m in March 2022. It is a fund clubs apply to, not a distribution they receive.

See also: Solidarity payments

The whole connected structure of English football, from the Premier League down through the EFL and the National League System to county leagues, joined by promotion and relegation. The connection is the point: it is what makes a Tuesday night at Step 4 part of the same sport as a Sunday afternoon in the Premier League.

See also: National League System, The trapdoor

Payments from the Premier League to EFL clubs that are not receiving parachute payments, calculated as a percentage of the third-year parachute payment: 30% in the Championship, 4.5% in League One and 3% in League Two. This formula ends at League Two, but Premier League money does not: the National League's 72 clubs, at Steps 1 and 2, have a separate agreement worth £23.6m over four years to 2028. Steps 3 to 6 have neither.

See also: Parachute payments, The trapdoor

The competitions the Independent Football Regulator has power over, set out in regulation 2 of the Football Governance Act 2025 (Specified Competitions) Regulations 2025: the Premier League competition, the Championship, League One and League Two competitions, and the Premier Division of the National League competition. That is 116 clubs. The regulator's remit reaches the top division of Step 1 and stops there, so most of the 996 clubs this campaign is about sit outside it.

See also: Independent Football Regulator, Football Governance Act 2025

The Independent Football Regulator's assessment of the financial health of English football. A draft was published in October 2026, with a final report expected in spring 2027. It is the document most likely to determine whether the distribution question is settled by agreement or by the backstop.

See also: Independent Football Regulator, Backstop

A level of the National League System. Step 1 is the National League, immediately below League Two. Step 6 is the bottom of the system. Steps are numbered downwards, so a higher step number means a lower level, which catches everyone out at least once.

See also: National League System, Ground grading

Our name for the gap between League Two and the National League: the point at which the EFL ends and a relegated club leaves the EFL's distribution formula. Every settlement negotiated between the Premier League and the EFL stops here, because the EFL only represents the 72 clubs above it. Premier League money does not stop dead at this line — the National League has its own, far smaller agreement — but it is negotiated separately and nobody at the table is speaking for the 924 clubs at Steps 3 to 6.

See also: Solidarity payments, National League System, EFL

A percentage taken from Premier League transfer fees and redistributed. The proposal Premier League clubs approved on 30 July 2026 would raise it from 4% to 6% to fund an increased settlement with the EFL.

See also: The trapdoor