The[1] Employment Rights Bill received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025.[2] During 2026 and 2027, wide‑ranging reforms will be implemented through the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025). Given football’s long‑standing reliance on contractual certainty, private arbitration and a hybrid regulatory model, this statutory intervention will reshape the legal framework of the professional game in meaningful ways.
This is the first in a series of three articles examining the impact of ERA 2025 across the football industry. It provides an overview of the core reforms, while the accompanying articles in this series analyse their specific implications for players (Part 2 – see here) and for managers (Part 3 – see here).
This article reviews how ERA 2025 will alter the legal and commercial realities of the modern game, focusing on:
It looks at:
Sophie is a Barrister at Littleton Chambers, and an active member of the Littleton Sports Law Group. She accepts instructions in all of Chambers’ main areas of practice, including sports law, an area she has a keen interest in. Her experience includes assisting in a sports-related investigation into the strengths and weaknesses of one of the organisation’s...
Exclusive: An online business based in Sydney will be taken to court after it allegedly made false claims it had connections to the victims of the Bondi terror attack. Bondi United, a website that...