The chairman of Kick It Out, the football anti-racism charity, has been shortlisted to become the first head of Britain’s proposed new Independent Football Regulator (IFR).
Sky News has learnt that Sanjay Bhandari is among three remaining candidates being considered by the government to chair the watchdog.
A decision is expected in the coming weeks, and the identities of the other two contenders for the high-profile post were unclear on Friday.
Mr Bhandari has chaired Kick It Out’s board of trustees since 2019, having been a partner at the professional services firm EY for more than a decade.
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He is also an independent non-executive director of the Lawn Tennis Association, and chairs the Satellite Applications Catapult, which aims to aid innovation in the UK space industry.
In 2024, he was awarded an MBE for services to sport.
Mr Bhandari’s chances of landing the chairmanship of the IFR are unclear, although one source described his credentials as “strong”.
The establishment of the regulator, which was originally conceived by the previous Conservative government in the wake of the furore over the failed European Super League project, has triggered deep unrest in the sport.
This week, Steve Parish, the influential chairman of Premier League side Crystal Palace, told a sports industry conference organised by the Financial Times that the watchdog “wants to interfere in all of the things we don’t need them to interfere in and help with none of the things we actually need help with”.
“We have a problem that we’re constantly being told that we’re not a business and [that] we’re part of the fabric of communities,” he is reported to have said.
“At the same time, we’re… being treated to the nth degree like a business.”
Interviews for the chair of the football regulator took place…
