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Part 1 · Section 2 of 10
How the system works
The rule-book as a contract, and which edition governs
By the end of this section you can say why “Rule W.81” means nothing without a season, find the edition behind each step of a case, and recognise when the rule-book leaves that question open.
In one screen
Why is the rule-book a contract, and which year's rules decide a case?
Joining the League is agreeing to arbitrate every dispute, under English law. The Rules are re-issued every season, and their numbers move.
A case referred in one season can be appealed in another, so the first question is which edition governs. Sometimes the rule-book does not say.
Why does the season matter?
Because the Rules change every year. The League publishes them in a Handbook each season, the clubs amend them, and the numbering moves with every insertion. The same rule can carry a new number, and sometimes new words.
The table maps every provision this course uses between the 2022/23 Handbook and the 2026/27 Handbook. Each number opens the League’s PDF at that page. The rule finder has the same rules with extracts and a search box.
| Provision | 2022/23 | 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
| What “the Rules” are, and how a rule number reads | A.1.203 | A.1.262 |
| Governing law | A.7 | A.8 |
| Expulsion of a club | B.6 | B.6 |
| Membership is a contract with the League and between the clubs | B.14 | B.14 |
| Utmost good faith | B.15 | B.15 |
| Separating clubs level on points | C.17 | C.17 |
| How UK broadcast money is split | D.16 | D.16 |
| The Merit Based Distribution Method | A.1.154 | A.1.201 |
| Nine points for an insolvency event | E.33 | E.35 |
| Joining an unapproved competition | L.10.1 | L.10.1 |
| Squad Cost Ratio: the points formula | not in this edition | Appendix 2, F.4 to F.5 |
| The League pays itself first: deduction from central funds | E.19 | E.20 |
| Disputes between a club and a player | T.31 | T.27 |
| How the clubs decide: two-thirds, one vote each | not in this edition | Articles 14.10 and 15.1 |
| Who appoints the Board | not in this edition | Article 19.3 |
| What the Board does | Article 20.2 | Article 20.2 |
| The Chair of the Judicial Panel | Appendix 13, para 2 | Appendix 13, para 2 |
| Who cannot sit on the Judicial Panel | Appendix 13, para 6 | Appendix 13, para 6 |
| The Board's power of inquiry | W.1 | W.1 |
| The Board's choice of route | W.3 | W.6 |
| The Board's own fine | W.8 | W.12 |
| Confidentiality is no answer | W.15 | W.19 |
| Who sits on a Commission | W.19 | W.23 |
| An accountant on profitability cases | W.20 | W.24 |
| Who the parties are | W.22 | W.26 |
| Starting a case | W.23 | W.27 |
| Objecting to a panel member | W.26 | W.30 |
| A rival asks for compensation | W.27 | W.31 |
| One appeal, then no further claim | W.28 | W.32 |
| The answer to a complaint | W.29 | W.33 |
| Changing the early time limits | W.31 | W.35 |
| How a hearing runs | W.43 | W.56 |
| Burden and standard of proof | W.45 | W.58 |
| Majority decisions, no abstentions | W.46 | W.59 |
| Reasons, and no published dissent | W.49 | W.62 |
| The sanction hearing: mitigation (and aggravation) | W.50 | W.63 |
| What a Commission can order | W.51 | W.64 |
| Fines are a civil debt | W.56 | W.70 |
| Who may appeal | W.62 | W.76 |
| The Appeal Board | W.63 | W.77 |
| The 14-day appeal deadline | W.67 | W.81 |
| Shortening the appeal period | W.69 | W.83 |
| The appeal timetable | W.70 | W.86 |
| New evidence on appeal | W.71 | W.88 |
| An appeal is a review | W.74 | W.92 |
| What an Appeal Board can do | W.78 | W.96 |
| The Appeal Board's decision is final | W.79 | W.97 |
| Evidence: any reliable means | W.80 | W.98 |
| The Overriding Objective | not in this edition | W.103 |
| Lawyers | W.81 | W.104 |
| Private hearings, published decisions | W.82 | W.105 |
| Appointing someone from outside the Panel | W.84 | W.107 |
| Everything goes to arbitration, and nowhere else | X.2 | X.2 |
| The five grounds of Section X review | X.4 | X.4 |
| Outsiders and Section X | X.6 | X.6 |
| Chief executives meet first | not in this edition | X.7 |
| Starting an arbitration | X.7 | X.8 |
| Who sits on a Section X tribunal | X.8 to X.10 | X.9 to X.11 |
| The tribunal can extend time | X.19.10 | X.29.10 |
| What a Section X tribunal can order | X.26 | X.36 |
| The award is final; no appeal on law | X.37 | X.50 |
What happens to the old Handbook when a new one is issued?
The League has one rule-book that changes over time, and a Handbook is the season’s printed copy of it. The Handbook defines “Rules” as “the rules for the time being of the League” (A.1.203), and a decision describes them as carrying on “from year to year subject to amendments” (Leicester City award, para 11). So when a new Handbook arrives, the old one stops being the current Rules. It does not disappear: the conduct it governed, and the steps taken under it, are still read against it. The City charges reach back to 2009/10, and the Commission worked from “numerous iterations of the PL Rules” (Core Decision, para 16).
What the Handbook does not say is how a case begun under one edition carries on under the next. We searched both Handbooks for a general rule on that point and found none in Section A or Section WThe disciplinary part of the Premier League's Rules: inquiries, Commissions, sanctions and appeals.. The only transitional provisions sit in Section E, which covers clubs’ finance. For a case that spans seasons, the answer to “which procedure applies?” has to come from the body hearing it, and the rule-book is silent until it does. The Rules in the glossary.
Which Handbook is this course reading, and is it the latest?
| Edition | Where we use it | Status as at 7 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | Rule numbers in the course, because it was in force when the League referred the City charges (6 February 2023) | Superseded as the current Rules; still the edition that matters for steps taken in that season |
| 2026/27 | The current numbers, set beside the old ones in the table below | The newest edition we found (published 31 July 2026). The clubs can amend the Rules mid-season, so check the League’s site before relying on a number |
Both editions were read in full on 7 October 2026. The rule-by-rule comparison used elsewhere in the course is the table in the first section above.
Which edition governs?
Two questions hide in that one. Whether a club broke a rule is judged by the rule in force when it acted. How the case runs — referral, hearing, appeal — follows the procedure in force at each step. One case can touch several Handbooks at once.
Procedure can change mid-case. The 2026/27 Handbook brought in standard directions for appeals: a hearing finished within 12 weeks of filing, five days at most, reasons within 30 days (W.86, W.95). No earlier edition we checked has them — not 2022/23, 2024/25 or 2025/26.
Nor does the 2026/27 Handbook say whether the new timetable reaches cases begun earlier. When the rule-book is silent, say so. Silence is a finding, not a gap to fill.
Check yourself
A case was referred in February 2023; the decision is appealed in October 2026. Which Handbook sets the appeal's timetable?
How do you read a rule number in a decision?
Date it first. A decision cites the numbers of the edition it was made under, so find the season — of the decision, the referral or the conduct — and open that Handbook. The current one may number the same rule differently, or not contain it.
As at 2026-10-07. Rules are cited by Premier League Handbook edition and rule number; decisions and judgments by date and paragraph; commentary is attributed and never stated as the law. probative.io is a research and investigations practice, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice; nothing here is a view on any particular matter.