New unpaid wages rule that will affect Sheffield Wednesday and EFL counterparts

It has been confirmed that clubs have approved the changes to regulations at the latest Extraordinary General Meeting, with clubs now required to tell the league ‘within two working days’ if they haven’t paid their players.

A statement from the EFL today explained, “A new requirement for Clubs to self-report instances of non-payment of player wages has been introduced to reflect the views of both the League and its Clubs that non-payment of salary obligations is a serious breach of Regulations.

“With immediate effect Clubs must now notify the League within two working days of the due date if they have failed to meet their financial obligations to a player or players. Any Club in default of payments to players will, as is the case currently, be subject to an immediate registration embargo.

“If a Club defaults on payments, it will be able to accept a sanction by way of an ‘Agreed Decision,’ which must be ratified by an Independent Chair in accordance with EFL Regulations. Alternatively, the Club can elect to have the matter determined by a full Independent Disciplinary Commission. New sanctioning guidelines have also been introduced, ranging from a suspended sporting sanction to multiple points deductions.

“Today’s changes follow a comprehensive review by the League and its Clubs into instances of non-payment and will allow any alleged misconduct to be addressed in a timely manner without requiring prior notification of breaches from the Professional Footballers’ Association.”

Wednesday had issues with regards to non-payment of player wages last year, which resulted in them being given restrictions with regards to their work in the transfer market, but it is understood that those issues have now been put to bed.

Meanwhile, it was also confirmed a change with regards to the domestic summer transfer window, with it now opening ‘12 weeks prior to the closure of the registration window and not the day after a Club’s season concludes’ – the league said they ‘will confirm the opening date of the summer 2022 window in due course’.

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