Sheffield Wednesday have been banned from spending money on transfers until January 2027 following the repeated failure of the Championship club to pay players’ wages.
The English Football League has levied what it calls a “fee restriction” on Wednesday, which will run for the next three transfer windows, including this summer one, after the club “[exceeded] 30 days of late payments” during the past 12 months. Wednesday are to appeal against the decision.
Separate disciplinary charges have also been brought against Wednesday’s owner, Dejphon Chansiri, “in respect of non-payment of player wages in March 2025 and May 2025,” the EFL said. The charges will be heard by an independent disciplinary commission.
A fee restriction means a club cannot pay or commit to pay any transfer fee, compensation fee or loan fee in the transfer market. Under EFL rules this means the club can only sign players on loan without paying a fee or “players not registered with another Club”. Wednesday are already under a transfer embargo, which prevents clubs from adding to their ranks above the 23 players required in order to fulfil their fixtures.
According to reports, some Wednesday players were still waiting this week for their wages for the month of June to be paid. Under Fifa regulations, players who have not received their agreed compensation on two separate months in a calendar year are able to serve notice of their intention to terminate their contract with just cause.
Chansiri took control at Wednesday a decade ago and the Thai businessman’s leadership of the club has been increasingly controversial. There has previously been late payment of tax bills, a six-point deduction in 2020 for breaching the EFL’s profitability and sustainability rules and a threat from the club last August to ban anyone who attended Hillsborough in a fake shirt. In 2023 Chansiri also said he would stop funding the club following criticism from supporters, but he is understood to have been injecting £3.5m into the club on a monthly basis in recent times.
The Labour MP for Sheffield South East, Clive Betts, recently accused Chansiri of “holding the club hostage” after he rejected bids to buy the club from an American consortium. “It is clear that Chansiri does not have the ability or resources to fund and invest in Sheffield Wednesday,” Betts said.
The club posted the EFL’s statement on its website on Wednesday, adding that it was “unable to make any further comments at this time”.
