English Football League and Queens Park Rangers settle dispute over financial fair play rules

Compass Lexecon assisted the English Football League during arbitration proceedings.

The English Football League (“EFL”) imposed a penalty on the English football club Queens Park Rangers (“QPR”) for a breach of the EFL’s financial fair play rules regarding the club’s spending in the 2013-2014 football season. QPR submitted that the financial fair play rules were unlawful under competition law. The dispute was brought for arbitration.

Compass Lexecon advised the EFL on the economic aspects of the dispute. We prepared and submitted a report showing that the EFL’s financial fair play rules do not breach competition law. We also testified before the arbitration panel.

In October 2017, the arbitral panel dismissed QPR's claim that the FFP rules were unlawful and also found that the penalty given to the QPR was not disproportionate. A subsequent appeal by QPR was withdrawn when the parties reached a settlement of their dispute in July 2018. The Compass Lexecon team was led by Neil Dryden, and included Stefano Trento and Gwilhem Charbonnier.