The PFA, England’s main footballers’ union, has filed a complaint against the EFL over the new salary spending limit introduced for League One clubs. The measure, approved against a backdrop of losses and debt among clubs, reduces the share of total revenue that clubs can allocate to player and coaching staff wages from 60% to 50%. For newly relegated teams, the reduction is equally significant: during their first season in the division, the limit falls from 75% to 65%.
The dispute goes beyond the percentage allocated to wages. The PFA is also challenging the process used to approve the new rules and argues that the changes could not be implemented without full agreement within the PFNCC, the Professional Football Negotiating and Consultative Committee, which includes the union, the EFL, the FA, and the Premier League. Meanwhile, the EFL is defending the reform as a tool to control spending, reduce clubs’ reliance on owners and improve their financial sustainability.
The PFA challenges League One’s new salary cap
The change directly affects the room clubs will have to build their squads. Reducing the share of revenue allocated to wages from 60% to 50% represents a significant restriction in a competition where financial differences between teams can be decisive in the race for promotion or the fight against relegation. In addition, newly relegated clubs will see the maximum share they can use to pay players and coaches during their first League One season fall from 75% to 65%. The rules also limit the use of owner capital injections to fund payrolls to 50%.
For the PFA, the issue is not only economic but also procedural. The union argues that clubs were not entitled to introduce these restrictions without reaching the required agreement within the professional football negotiating and consultative committee. In its complaint, it argues that the process used to vote on the new measures did not comply with the consultation and agreement mechanism established among the different stakeholders in English football. From its perspective, artificially restricting wage spending directly affects the conditions under which footballers carry out their profession and therefore requires the participation and approval of their representatives.
The EFL defends the reform on financial sustainability grounds
The EFL responded by expressing concern and disappointment over the complaint, but defended the changes as part of a framework designed to promote responsible spending controls. Its argument is based on a financial reality affecting a significant part of English professional football: growing losses and increasing reliance on funding provided by club owners. From this perspective, limiting wage expenditure is intended to reduce clubs’ exposure to financial situations that could threaten their operations.
The EFL’s CEO, Trevor Birch, has argued that financial sustainability and player protection are not incompatible objectives. In his view, financially stable clubs are better positioned to honor contracts, pay wages on time, invest in facilities and create long-term opportunities for their players. For this reason, the league believes that delaying implementation of the reform while the complaint progresses also poses a risk, as clubs need rules that allow them to plan their finances responsibly and avoid committing resources beyond their means.
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