Balance Sheet
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Impairment
Impairment is an extra write-down of a player's remaining book value when the club no longer expects to recover it, and it counts towards squad cost alongside amortisation.
Also called
player impairment
write-down
A signing sits on the balance sheet at its unamortised value. If the player is out of favour, badly injured or plainly worth less than that value, the club writes the difference off. That write-down is an impairment.
Under SCR, impairment is grouped with amortisation in the squad cost definition, so clearing out a costly mistake shows up in the ratio rather than being kept off it.
Impairments are lumpy and unpredictable, which is one reason a single season's ratio can jump without any change in the wage bill.
Related terms
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Definitions summarise published EFL and Premier League regulations in plain English; they are
not legal advice and not a substitute for the rulebooks themselves.
Last reviewed 2026-10-02.
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