SCR enforcement calendar 2026/27: every date that decides a points deduction, levy or embargo

Manchester United released their FY2026 annual accounts at 7:00am ET (12:00 BST), as announced in a Form 6-K filing. They cover 2025/26, the last season assessed under PSR, so they show the wage bill, amortisation and agents' fees a top-half Premier League club carries into the first SCR season, measured against the new 85% green threshold.

Manchester United plc Form 6-K, 9 September 2026

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The Athletic, followed by Reuters, the BBC and AFP, reported that the independent commission had found Manchester City guilty on 114 of the 115 Premier League charges brought in February 2023. The Premier League has not published the decision and no sanction has been decided. Either side may appeal to an Appeal Board within 14 days of the date of the decision. The financial charges cover 2009/10 to 2017/18 and the non-cooperation charges December 2018 to 2023, all before SCR, so any sanction comes from the commission's powers under Section W of the Premier League Rules, not the SCR tariff.

Premier League Rules W.82.1 (referral, 2022/23 numbering); Rules W.64 (commission sanctions) and W.81 (appeal) in the 2026/27 edition; press reports, not an official statement

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The Premier League published the independent Commission's redacted Core Decision: Manchester City were found guilty of every charge except Charge 4(B), one of the four charges of failing to cooperate with the investigation. The appendices setting out the detailed reasons are to follow. The sanction will be decided at a separate hearing. The charges cover 2009/10 to 2017/18 and the investigation from December 2018, all before SCR, so any sanction comes from the Commission's powers under Section W of the Premier League Rules, not the SCR tariff.

Premier League Rules W.64 (commission sanctions) in the 2026/27 edition; Premier League statement of 29 September 2026

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The Premier League says Manchester City have until Friday 2 October 2026 to appeal the Commission's findings to an Appeal Board. City lodged their appeal at 7pm on Thursday 1 October 2026, a day early (club statement, reported by Sky Sports on 2 October). A fresh three-person Appeal Board will hear it; no date has been announced.

Premier League Rule W.81 (appeal) in the 2026/27 edition; Premier League statement of 29 September 2026; Manchester City statement of 2 October 2026

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Every Premier League club submits its audited 2025/26 Annual Accounts, Player ID Table, October In-Season Financial Adjustments and Confirmation Statement - feeding both the 2025/26 True-Up and the estimates used at the 1 March Compliance Test. Promoted clubs sit their SSR Liquidity and Positive Equity Tests on this date, and the final legacy PSR Form 3A (for the period ending 2025/26) is also due.

Premier League Handbook 2026/27, Appendix 2 Rule B.6; Appendix 3 Rule A.1.49; Section E (PSR Form 3A)

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Championship clubs file mid-season financial data to the EFL. Separately, the 95% Additional Reporting Threshold is not tied to this date at all - it is a continuous Rule 9.1 obligation to notify the League "forthwith" whenever Player & Manager Related Expenditure exceeds, or is likely to exceed, 95% of the permitted maximum. Missing either submission is a breach with consequences under Rule 11.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Appendix 5 Rule 5.5 and transitional Rule 16.2.2; Rule 9.1 (Additional Reporting Threshold)

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The Independent Football Regulator opens its application window for clubs to obtain a provisional operating licence under the Football Governance Act 2025, running until 26 February 2027. Every club in the top five men's divisions needs a provisional licence to compete in 2027/28, alongside - not instead of - each competition's own SCR/SCMP financial rules.

IFR Provisional Licensing Guidance (Football Governance Act 2025)

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League One and League Two clubs submit mid-season figures under the Salary Cost Management Protocol. Any club forecasting to fail the SCMP Requirement becomes subject to a registration embargo under Rule 9.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Appendix 5 Parts 2 and 3, Rule 4.4

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The 31 December annual-accounts deadline applies to Championship clubs (plus any club that was in the Championship the previous season) - League One and League Two clubs instead file by the earlier of their Companies House deadline or 31 March. The same date closes UEFA's calendar-2026 squad cost measurement period, which is what Aston Villa's and Chelsea's conditional CFCB fines depend on.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Regulations 16.2.1 (Championship) and 16.2.2 (League One/Two), Appendix 5 Rule 5.6.2; UEFA CFCB First Chamber decision 30 June 2026 (calendar-year squad cost ratio)

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The winter transfer window opens across English football. For the Championship this is also when real-time SCR testing begins under the 2026/27 transitional rule - registrations that would push a club over the SCR Requirement can be refused from this window onward, since summer 2026 was exempt.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Regulation 43.3.1; Appendix 5 Rule 16.2.3

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The January transfer window closes at 23:00 (31 January 2027 falls on a Sunday, hence Monday 1 February). Any Championship club still outside SCR compliance at this point is referred to the independent Club Financial Review Panel, which can impose a registration embargo restricting further transfer activity until the club's position improves.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Regulation 43.4; Appendix 5 Rule 11.11

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Unlike the Championship's window-close trigger, League One and League Two clubs have a fixed compliance date: any club non-compliant with the SCMP Requirement on 1 February, or on any later date, stays under embargo and is referred to the Club Financial Review Panel.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Appendix 5 Parts 2 and 3, Rule 11.4

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Last day for the 116 clubs in the top five men's divisions to apply to the Independent Football Regulator for a provisional licence. Clubs promoted into the National League from National League North or South apply after promotion instead, within five days of the season's end or the play-off final.

IFR Provisional Licensing Guidance (Football Governance Act 2025)

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The Premier League Board tests each club's estimated squad cost against estimated football revenue - after the October and February In-Season Financial Adjustments, the latter capturing January transfer business - against the Green and Red Thresholds. At or under Green means compliant and a Positive Feedback Loop; over Green triggers a Breach Notification and the later Accounts Confirmation Test; over Red also brings an SCR Sporting Sanction (6 points plus 1 per £6.5m over the Red Threshold), which takes effect once a 7-day dispute window has passed.

Premier League Handbook 2026/27, Appendix 2 Rules A.1.57, C.2-C.4, F.2-F.4 and G.1.4

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Championship clubs file their Future Financial Information by this date, plus interim accounts if their annual accounts are made up to a date before 30 November. It also lands exactly nine months after a 30 June year-end, which is the Companies House filing deadline under the Companies Act 2006 for clubs on that year-end.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Regulations 16.12 and 16.17; Companies Act 2006 (9-month filing period)

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Championship clubs make their pre-season SCR submission for 2027/28 by 30 April, or within seven days of divisional status being confirmed if that comes later; a club relegated from the Premier League instead files by the last working day before the summer window opens. Any owner funding relied on in the calculation must be evidenced by an SH01 filed before the submission itself.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Appendix 5 Rules 5.1-5.2; Annex C para 1.11.2 (SH01)

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The Independent Football Regulator expects to decide every provisional-licence application by the end of May 2027, before the leagues' AGMs. It has three months from a complete application and can extend that, so this is the IFR's stated aim rather than a fixed deadline.

IFR Provisional Licensing Guidance (Football Governance Act 2025)

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League One and League Two clubs file their Future Financial Information by 31 May. The same deadline also catches any Championship club relegated between 31 March and 31 May.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Regulation 16.17

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Only clubs issued a Breach Notification at the 1 March Compliance Test sit the Accounts Confirmation Test, run on Provisional Accounts due by 1 June - the Handbook fixes that input deadline, not the date the test itself is run. At or under 85% means compliant and a Positive Feedback Loop; over 85% means a Levy (finalised at True-Up against audited accounts due 31 October) and a Negative Feedback Loop cutting next season's allowance by the size of the overspend.

Premier League Handbook 2026/27, Appendix 2 Rules B.2, D.1-D.3, A.1.39/A.1.44

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Every Premier League club files its Provisional Accounts and Confirmation Statement by 1 June, and the Board confirms each club's League Revenue Items by the same date. The accounts are what the Accounts Confirmation Test runs on for clubs that received a Breach Notification. A club still in a UEFA competition on 31 May has until the fifth working day after its European involvement ends, and promoted clubs have until 30 June.

Premier League Handbook 2026/27, Appendix 2 Rules B.2, B.3.1-B.3.2 and B.5

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League One clubs make their pre-season SCMP submission ahead of 2027/28; League Two's equivalent Pre-Season Submission Date falls two weeks later, on 30 June. Because thresholds vary by club - higher for those recently relegated from a higher division - each submission is checked against that club's own limit rather than a single divisional line.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Appendix 5 Part 2, 'Pre-Season Submission Date' and Rule 4.1

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The date is inferred from the pattern of UEFA's prior First Chamber decisions (4 July 2025, 30 June 2026) rather than a published fixture. Villa's 30 June 2026 decision fined them EUR22.5m, of which EUR15m was conditional, plus a List A registration restriction for 2026/27; Chelsea were fined EUR3m, of which EUR2m was conditional - both conditions depend on continuing to significantly decrease their squad cost ratio across calendar 2026, which this decision is expected to assess.

UEFA CFCB First Chamber decision 30 June 2026; UEFA CL&FS Regulations 2026, Art. 94

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Clubs promoted to the Premier League file their delayed Provisional Accounts and Confirmation Statement by 30 June. The same date is League Two's Pre-Season SCMP Submission, two weeks after League One's equivalent deadline.

Premier League Handbook 2026/27, Appendix 2 Rule B.3.2; EFL Regulations 2026/27, Appendix 5 Part 3

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The Premier League runs its Sustainability and Systemic Resilience (SSR) Working Capital Test on 7 July for every club, including newly promoted ones, and clubs submit their SSR Future Financial Information by the same date. Only the Liquidity Test and the Positive Equity Test move to a later 31 October date for promoted clubs.

Premier League Handbook 2026/27, Appendix 3 Rules A.1.49, B.2 and C.1

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Summer 2027 will be the first summer transfer window with live SCR testing in effect, since Rule 16.2.3 disapplied real-time testing for the summer 2026 window. Clubs just relegated from the Premier League are the exception: they are tested in real time only from the January window. A Championship club forecasting non-compliance after the window closes stays under embargo and can be placed on an agreed budget that may require player sales.

EFL Regulations 2026/27, Appendix 5 Rules 11.10.1 and 17.1.2; Regulation 43.1-43.2

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