Fit & Proper

Free checks

IFR readiness check

Fourteen questions, about ten minutes, and a per-area position against the licensing framework with statutory citations and next steps. Your answers are scored in your browser and shown on this page; nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to ask for a follow-up once your results are in front of you.

The provisional licence application window opens on 2 November 2026 and closes on 26 February 2027. Licences take effect on 1 June 2027.

The check

Answer from what the club actually has in place today, not what is planned. An honest "not sure" is more useful than a hopeful "in place": it is scored as work to do, and confirming the true picture may well improve your result.

Your competition

Which competition does your club play in?

Financial plan

Could the club produce a financial plan today setting out its funding and the source of that funding, expected revenues and expenses, and a financial risk assessment covering the remainder of this year and the two following years?

These are the contents the statute itself specifies for the financial plans condition, and the licence application's business plan is built from the same material.

Financial resources

Does the club have board-approved accounts and financial forecasts it could put in front of a regulator this month?

The application asks for actuals covering the two most recent completed financial years plus a forward forecast.

Corporate governance

Does the club have a functioning board with defined committees or delegated responsibilities, and could it describe its governance arrangements in a written statement?
Has the board engaged with the IFR's corporate governance code: could it say, principle by principle, where the club applies it and where it diverges?

The statement works on an apply-and-explain basis: divergence is allowed, silence is not.

Equality, diversity and inclusion actions

Has the board agreed concrete equality, diversity and inclusion actions covering the whole of the club's operations, beyond anything a league scheme already requires?

Fan consultation

Do the club's fans have elected representatives, or an equivalent representative body, that the club formally engages with?

Elections are the regulator's primary route; other arrangements must genuinely represent the fanbase.

Does the club consult fans regularly on the relevant matters: strategic direction, business priorities, operational and matchday issues including ticket pricing, and club heritage?

Heritage means the home ground, crest, predominant home shirt colours and team name.

Ownership transparency

Could you name every person who holds more than 25% of the club's shares or voting rights, or who can appoint or remove an officer, including anyone holding through an intermediate or holding company?
Have you looked behind the register: are any nominee holdings, trusts or joint voting arrangements sitting over the club's shares fully mapped?

Jointly held or jointly exercised rights are aggregated under the Act; each party is treated as holding the combined position.

Owners, officers and the personnel statement

Do you know who counts as an owner and an officer of the club under the regime, and would each of them be comfortable with the regulator examining their suitability?
Could the club produce a personnel statement today, naming every owner, the ultimate owner, and each senior manager with their role and responsibilities, accurate enough for a director to approve?

The application requires this statement, approved as accurate, under s.16(4).

Notification duties

Do the people who run the club know which events trigger a duty to tell the regulator: a prospective new owner or officer, a change in an incumbent's circumstances, a material change at the club, dealings in the home ground, or an administrator appointment?

Evidence discipline

Are the club's key documents version-controlled and its board minutes retrievable on request: could you evidence a decision made two years ago within a day?

Annual declaration

Is the club set up to make an annual declaration to the regulator: a running log of notifiable events (or a confident nil return), plus an attestation on non-financial resources?