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Practise and look up · Glossary
The words the course uses
Football’s governing bodies borrow the vocabulary of the courts without having a court’s authority. Each entry says what a thing is and where its power comes from, and points to the rule or site it rests on. Rule numbers are given with their Handbook edition.
- The Rules (the Handbook)
The Premier League's own rule-book. The League publishes it each season in a Handbook, and the clubs amend it at shareholders' meetings. It binds the clubs because joining the League is agreeing to it (Rule B.14). Section A defines 'Rules' as 'the rules for the time being of the League'.
Source: Premier League Handbook 2026/27 (current edition) · 2022/23 Rules A.1.203 and B.14; the same wording is in 2026/27
- Reading a rule number (W.45, X.4)
A letter and a number after the word Rule identify the Section of the Handbook and the rule's number inside it: W.45 is Rule 45 of Section W (Disciplinary); X.4 is Rule 4 of Section X (Arbitration). The letters are just the Handbook's section labels (A Definitions, B Governance, D Finance, W Disciplinary, X Arbitration). The Handbook says so itself. The numbers are re-set whenever the clubs add or remove rules, so a rule number means nothing without its season.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rule A.1.203 · 2022/23 Rule A.1.203
- Section W (Disciplinary)
The part of the Rules that governs how the League inquires into a suspected breach, how a Commission hears a complaint, and how an Appeal Board hears an appeal. It runs on the League's complaint: a Commission case starts with a written complaint 'drafted by or on behalf of the Board', and the only parties are the Board and the respondent (W.22 to W.24). Another club cannot start one.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules W.22 to W.24 · 2022/23
- Section X (Arbitration)
The part of the Rules that sends every dispute between the League and its clubs, and between clubs, to private arbitration in England and Wales, under English law and the Arbitration Act 1996 (X.2). It also lets a decision of a Commission or an Appeal Board be reviewed by an arbitral tribunal on five narrow grounds (X.4).
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules X.2 and X.4 · 2022/23
- The Board
The League's board of directors, which runs the company and operates the Rules under the policy the clubs set in General Meeting. It investigates, decides how to deal with a suspected breach (a reprimand, a fixed penalty, a summary fine up to £100,000, an agreed sanction, or a referral to a Commission), and prosecutes complaints before a Commission.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules W.1 to W.8 · 2022/23
- The Judicial Panel
A pool of lawyers, accountants and football-administration experts from which the League's disciplinary bodies are drawn. It is not a court and not a panel of judges in the usual sense: the clubs created it by a vote on 6 February 2020, its terms of reference are Appendix 13 to the Rules, and the clubs, not Parliament, set who may sit and how they are chosen. It has two halves, a Disciplinary Panel (which supplies Commissions) and an Appeals Panel (which supplies Appeal Boards). Its Chair is appointed by the clubs for five years, with no reappointment, and appoints each Commission and Appeal Board. No member may be a League employee or club official or take instructions from a party; the League pays them. Section 1 of the course sets out the detail.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Appendix 13 (unchanged in 2026/27) · 2022/23 Appendix 13; checked against 2026/27
- Commission (Disciplinary Commission)
The body that hears a complaint under Section W: three members of the Disciplinary Panel, appointed by the Chair of the Judicial Panel, one of them legally qualified and chairing (W.19). It decides on the balance of probabilities, by unanimous or majority vote, and can fine, deduct points and more (W.51). It has only the power the clubs gave it by agreeing to the Rules.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules W.19, W.45 and W.51 · 2022/23
- Appeal Board
The body that hears an appeal from a Commission: three members of the Appeals Panel, appointed by the Chair of the Judicial Panel, one of whom has held judicial office and chairs (W.63). It reviews the evidence the Commission heard rather than hearing the case afresh, and its decision is final subject only to Section X (W.74, W.79).
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules W.63, W.74 and W.79 · 2022/23 (W.81 to W.97 in 2026/27)
- Section X tribunal
An arbitral tribunal: three lawyers of at least ten years' standing, one chosen by each side and a chair chosen by those two (X.8 to X.10). It is the first body in the ladder that is an arbitration under statute. A court can supervise it, but cannot hear an appeal from it on the merits.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules X.8 to X.10 and X.37 · 2022/23
- Respondent
The club, manager, official or player against whom the Board brings a complaint (W.22.2).
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rule W.22 · 2022/23
- Balance of probabilities
The standard of proof in civil proceedings: a fact is proved if it is more likely than not. It is lower than the criminal standard, where a court must be sure of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The Rules adopt the civil standard: the Board has the burden, 'on a balance of probabilities' (W.45).
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rule W.45 · 2022/23
- Any reliable means
The Rules' evidence test. A Commission or Appeal Board is 'not bound by judicial rules governing the admissibility of evidence', and facts 'may be established by any reliable means' (W.80 in 2022/23; W.98 in 2026/27). It lets the body weigh material a court might exclude; it does not make everything weighty.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rule W.80 · 2022/23 W.80; 2026/27 W.98
- Time being of the essence
A phrase that makes a deadline strict. The notice of appeal is due within 14 days of the decision 'time being of the essence' (W.67 in 2022/23; W.81 in 2026/27). The Rules let the Appeal Board shorten that period, not lengthen it.
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules W.67 and W.69 · 2022/23 W.67, W.69; 2026/27 W.81, W.83
- Arbitration Act 1996
The statute that governs arbitration seated in England and Wales. It lets the courts stay a court claim that should go to arbitration (s.9) and supervise an arbitration on narrow grounds: lack of jurisdiction (s.67), serious irregularity (s.68) and, unless excluded, a point of law (s.69). Section X of the Rules excludes s.69.
- The Football Association (the FA)
The governing body of the game in England. It holds the single special share in the Premier League and has its own rules and its own arbitration clause. It is a private body whose powers come from contract, not from statute. It is not the football regulator created by Parliament in 2025; that is the Independent Football Regulator.
Source: The Football Association
- UEFA
The Union des Associations Européennes de Football (the Union of European Football Associations). It organises the European club competitions (the Handbook defines a 'UEFA Club Competition' as 'the club competitions organised by UEFA'), and Premier League clubs agree to be bound by its statutes and regulations when they join the League (B.14.6). A decision of UEFA on its own competition goes on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as Manchester City's 2020 appeal did.
Source: UEFA · Handbook 2026/27, Rules A.1.310, A.1.311 and B.14.6
- FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the international body for association football. Premier League clubs agree to be bound by its statutes and regulations when they join the League (B.14.5). Its rules sit above the national and league rules in the sense that a club has agreed to all of them, not because any of them is a court.
Source: FIFA · Handbook 2026/27, Rules A.1.120 and B.14.5
- Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
A private arbitration institution based in Lausanne, Switzerland, which decides sports disputes. It is not a state court. It hears appeals against UEFA and FIFA decisions, but a Premier League dispute cannot be taken to it: Rule X.2.4 says no other system or mode of arbitration will be invoked.
Source: Court of Arbitration for Sport
- The Independent Football Regulator
The statutory regulator of English football, created by the Football Governance Act 2025. Its power comes from Parliament, not from the clubs' contract, and it is sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is separate from the FA and from the Premier League. Its decisions are appealed to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (s.84).
- Merit Based Distribution Method
The League's table for sharing out part of its UK broadcast money by final league position: 20 shares for first place, 19 for second, and so on down to 1 share for twentieth (Rule A.1.154). One quarter of the balance of UK broadcast revenue forms the Merit Payments Fund, which is shared this way after the season ends (D.16.2, D.17.2).
Source: Handbook 2026/27, Rules A.1, D.16 and D.17 · 2022/23 and 2026/27 (same wording)
- The Financial Reporting Council (FRC)
The UK's independent regulator of auditors, accountants and actuaries, and the body that sets the Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. It is separate from the football bodies. A club's auditor, such as KPMG or EY, is a private firm; the FRC is the regulator that can investigate and sanction an audit firm.
Source: Financial Reporting Council
- Sanction Agreement
A sanction agreed in writing between the Board and the person concerned instead of a Commission hearing. It must be ratified by three members of the Disciplinary Panel, who may refuse if it is unduly lenient (W.3.7, W.12 to W.14).
Source: Handbook 2022/23, Rules W.12 to W.14 · 2022/23
As at 2026-10-07. probative.io is a research and investigations practice, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice.