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August 20 – Sheffield United could face a 12-point deduction after the company used by the club’s current owners to complete their £100 million takeover was ordered into liquidation at London’s High Court. COH Sports Bidco Limited (CSBL), controlled by United co-chairmen Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy, was wound up on Wednesday following a petition from former owner United World over an outstanding £35 million payment. CSBL bought the Championship club from Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad Al Saud’s United World in December 2024, but the ownership structure has since changed. In June, Sheffield United announced that the club’s shares had been moved into US-based 1919 Partners LLC, which became its new parent company. Rosen and Eltoukhy remain in control through the new entity. That move is now central to the EFL’s examination of the case. Because CSBL rather than Sheffield United itself has been liquidated, a points deduction is not automatic. EFL regulations do, however, allow the league board to consider insolvency events involving companies within a club’s wider ownership structure, including their impact on the integrity of the competition. A 12-point penalty therefore remains on the table if the EFL decides the circumstances warrant it. The league said it is considering the implications of the liquidation “including whether any further action is required”, while also examining separate regulatory issues surrounding changes to Sheffield United’s ownership structure. The Independent Football Regulator is looking at the case as well, including whether there are grounds to assess the financial soundness, honesty and integrity of the club’s existing owners. A club spokesperson said: “This is a matter between the current owners and former owner. The football club is in contact with the English Football League and the day-to-day operations at Sheffield United are unaffected.” United World says it made repeated attempts to recover the money before going to court and has questioned whether moving the club’s shares out of CSBL allowed the owners to separate Sheffield United from the unpaid purchase debt. The current ownership has previously denied that was the purpose of the restructuring. There is precedent for the EFL looking beyond the club itself. Southampton were docked ten points in 2009 after their parent company entered administration, with the league concluding that the two were effectively one economic entity. Sheffield United are not at that stage yet. But with the company used to buy the club now liquidated, £35 million still unpaid and two regulators examining what happened to the ownership structure, the argument has moved well beyond a private dispute between buyer and seller – with the fans caught in the crossfire. Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]