Skip to content

What the regulator will ask your club

The provisional application brings together your club's plans, forecasts, ownership, funding, governance and people. Explore each area here, then talk to us about a document plan for your club.

Talk through your applicationHow we help

Pick an area or search for a topic. Each one links the IFR question to the records a club may need and the preparation we can take on. Switch to the ongoing duties for the work after licensing.

Application answer · IFR guidance

Start with the right applicant

What the IFR asks

The form identifies the legal applicant, competition entity and application contact.

Records to check
  • Company and league records
  • Registered details and authorised contact
What Elite prepares

We check the named entity and contact against the group structure and supporting records before the form is prepared.

Read source: IFR provisional licence application guidance · Annex A §1 ↗

A public guide to the IFR's published requirements, not a checklist tailored to your club. We scope the exact document plan with your team.

Find a specific Annex A question or Club Code principle, see the related work and follow the source. The application and the later Club Code reporting are different obligations, so they are kept apart here.

Annex A · 2.2.4 · Strategy & structure

Group diagram, ultimate owners, club and key assets

Annex A expressly asks for a document, table or declaration here. Further supporting records depend on the club; check the official guidance and portal.

Related Elite work

Ownership & control

A dated entity-and-control diagram and a reasoned ownership account aligned with the personnel statement. We trace rights and relationships, not just a Companies House list.

A useful working structure
  • Licence holder and entity perimeter
  • Direct and indirect rights; ultimate owners
  • Stadium and related-entity position
  • Unresolved rights for specialist review

Club input: Current group, shareholder, member and stadium records; confirmation of factual rights. A qualified lawyer resolves disputed legal conclusions.

Read the official Annex A guidance ↗

Question labels are short paraphrases for navigation, not the application form. Check the published guidance and live IFR portal before preparing a club response. No client work is shown here.

Your club decides what it submits

We can organise and test the material, prepare the governance and ownership narratives, coordinate specialist financial and legal inputs, and bring open decisions to authorised club reviewers. Your club provides its facts and forecasts, approves the application and submits it. The IFR makes the licensing decision.

For existing clubs in the top five divisions in 2026/27, the provisional application window runs from 2 November 2026 to 26 February 2027. Promoted clubs have a separate route. Read the official guidance

Tell us what you already have, what has changed and when your club needs to decide. We'll discuss a scope for the preparation and the follow-up.

Talk through your applicationSee the service