Anti-Boehly Rule? EPL clubs vote for 5-year limit on transfer fee amortisation

Premier League clubs vote for five-year limit on transfer fee amortisation

Premier League clubs have voted to limit the period over which a player’s transfer fee can be spread in their accounts to five years, regardless of the length of their contract.

This rule change, however, will not be backdated to include transfers that have already happened or contracts already signed and brings the Premier League in line with UEFA, which set its own five-year limit on transfer fee amortisation in June.

The clubs voted on the measure at a shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday. The vote passed with 15 clubs — including Chelsea, who had attracted attention for the long contracts of some of their new signings in the past 18 months — in favour, two against and three abstentions.

The Premier League confirmed the rule change for new and extended contracts in an official statement following The Athletic’s report later on Tuesday.

The statement added that teams had also voted in favour of enabling the Premier League board to stop a club from registering more players in situations where they owe a transfer debt to another Premier League or English Football League (EFL) side until that outstanding payment has been made. The offending club could also see the outstanding amount deducted from their share of the league’s prize money.

Previously, clubs could amortise — spread the cost of a transfer, in accounting terms — over the full length of any contract.

This enabled them to sign players on long contracts and potentially spread out the impact of transfer spending over a longer period to help them fulfil their financial obligations — a player signed for a £60million ($75.2m) fee on a six-year contract would cost a team £10m ($7.52m) per year in their