THE EFL will no longer permit the use of towels to dry footballs during matches following a revision of the EFL Regulations at its annual general meeting.

Several changes will come into effect immediately including a multi-ball system that will see balls placed on cones at designated areas of the pitch.

Meanwhile, clubs will no longer be permitted to use towels or other articles, including items obtained from spectators, to dry footballs during matches. Those changes are targeted at increasing the time the ball is in play.

Saints are EFL members again following relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season and will compete in the Championship. 

New disqualifying conditions have been added to the Owners and Directors’ Test to ensure that the EFL and Premier League’s tests remain aligned.

The list of disqualifying conditions has been updated to include:

  • Disqualifying individuals who are subject to sanctions;
  • Prohibiting ownership by state entities from countries which are sanctioned;
  • Second (or further) bankruptcies/convictions/bans, even if expired or spent.
  • Convictions for violent offences;
  • Convictions for fraud of any kind;
  • Disqualification for wider corporate insolvencies;
  • Disqualifications by a wider range of Government bodies;
  • Having been removed as a trustee of a pension scheme by the Pensions’ Regulator or the Courts;
  • Expulsion of sporting clubs in other sports (eg. Rugby) as the League does for football clubs;
  • Expanding the period in which insolvency of a company/club counts against a director who has resigned from 30 days to one year; and
  • Reducing the definition of Control from 30% to 25%

The EFL has updated Regulation 17.1 to include all debts due to HMRC and now requires clubs to report any defaults within two working days.

The non-payment of HMRC debt has been added as a trigger of Regulation 52.6, so clubs who accumulate 30 days of late payments in a 12-month period will be unable to sign a player for a fee or any consideration for three full transfer windows.

The amendment to the 30-Day Rule also provides for clubs to self-report late payment of any debt covered by Regulation 52.6, plus a right of appeal for clubs triggering the 30-Day Rule.