Government announces preferred candidate for Independent Football Regulator Chair
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-24)

David Kogan OBE is the Government’s preferred candidate for Independent Football Regulator Chair, the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced today.

David Kogan OBE has held senior positions in the television and sports industries during a 45 year career as a media executive, business leader and corporate advisor. He negotiated a succession of multi-billion pound TV rights deals on behalf of major sporting bodies, including the Premier League and the English Football League. He has also advised UEFA, The Scottish Premier League, Six Nations, Premier Rugby and the NFL. Most recently he sold the broadcast rights on behalf of the Woman’s Super League.

He is a former managing director of Reuters Television (the global television news agency), and an ex-CEO of the Magnum photo agency. He has co-founded both Reel Enterprises and the Women’s Sports Group. He is currently an advisor to the New York Times Group and CNN on their commercial, digital and AI strategies. Among his public boards David was a non-executive director at Channel 4, a member of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Services board from 2007-14 and Chair of Westminster Kingsway Corporation. He is the author of three books.

David will now appear before MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for pre-appointment scrutiny.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy said:

David brings with him a wealth of expertise from the sport and media industries having worked across a number of high-profile governing bodies, competition organisers and major media corporations in a very impressive career. It makes him an outstanding candidate to be the chair of the independent football regulator.

This will be a vital, public role to ensure sensible, light-touch regulation helps to strengthen financial sustainability and put fans back at the heart of the game.

David Kogan OBE said:

Across the country millions of us share a passion for football, a game that is not only part of our national heritage but one of our most valuable cultural exports. That’s why as both a supporter and someone with many years spent working in football, I am honoured to have been asked to be the preferred candidate for chair of the newly created Independent Football Regulator.

Our professional clubs, whatever their size, are a source of local and national pride. They generate economic growth and investment, unite communities, and create shared experiences and memories that transcend generations.

The job of the regulator is to work with those clubs, their owners, and their supporters to create a dynamic framework that will ensure the game is on a sound financial footing so that it can continue to flourish and to grow. I cannot wait to get started.

The Football Governance Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, will establish the Independent Football Regulator and a new set of rules to protect clubs, empower fans and keep clubs at the heart of their communities.

The Regulator will tackle rogue owners and directors, implement a club licensing regime to help ensure a more consistent approach in how clubs are run, monitor club finances and improve fan engagement throughout the football pyramid - from the Premier League to the National League. It will also have a backstop measure to mediate a fair financial distribution between Leagues, should they be unable to come to an agreement

The Regulator will help to ensure English football remains one of the country’s greatest exports, and places fans back at the heart of the game, so that local clubs in towns and cities continue to thrive for generations.

Notes to editors
- The appointment of a Chair of the Independent Football Regulator has been made as the result of a fair and open competition, run in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments. The Chair of the IFR is appointed by the DCMS Secretary of State.
- Substantive appointment to the Chair role is ultimately subject to the Football Governance Bill being granted Royal Assent that will be subject to Parliamentary process. Any appointments made ahead of this will be done on a designated basis.
- Ministers were assisted in their decision-making by an Advisory Assessment Panel, which included a departmental official and a Senior Independent Panel Member approved by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
The Chair of the Independent Football Regulator is remunerated at £130,000 per annum for an initial time commitment of 3 days per week.
- This appointment process was run in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/578498/governance_code_on_public_appointments_16_12_2016.pdf).
- The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
- Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election.
- David Kogan OBE has declared that he has made donations to local Labour Party candidates over the last three years, as publicly disclosed on the Electoral Commission donation register. He recently stepped down as Chair of LabourList, an independent website covering the Labour movement.