The Premier League has outlawed fully leveraged club buyouts.
Following its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, the Premier League made the modifications to its rules official. All of its members had unanimously approved the adjustment.
The choice is being made as Manchester United is being acquired. The Glazer Family used loans, some of which were backed by club assets, to pay for the majority of their £790 million purchase of United in 2005. To make sure that buyers are “fit-and-proper,” the Premier League instituted the Owners’ and Directors’ Test a year earlier.
The evaluation looks for warning signs that can prevent prospective new owners from acquiring control of a club, like prior convictions, giving false information, and having competing interests in other clubs. Since the criteria’s creation, they have been modified. The Premier League has since ruled that potential owners can no longer buy one of its teams fully with leverage loans.
While Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s offer is said to be largely funded by the bank of his firm, INEOS, Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani’s takeover proposal for United is being funded by his Nine Two Foundation.
Sir Jim is rumored to be in the lead with his plan to maintain Avram and Joel Glazer as minority shareholders, but Sheikh Jassim, who wants to acquire the club outright and pay off its debts, just presented a revised fifth offer.
The Premier League AGM also covered other subjects such commercial money, catastrophe chanting enforcement, and football governance.
Prior to the 2023–24 season, which begins on August 12, PGMOL president Howard Webb also presented the fundamental refereeing guidelines. The Premier League is rumored to have decided against using the semi-automatic offside technology that was used at the World Cup.