Sheffield United is at the centre of a high-stakes ownership dispute that has reached the High Court, with the potential to spill over into an EFL sanctions process and a 12-point deduction in the Championship.
The core dispute: £35m unpaid from the 2024 takeover
The case stems from the December 2024 sale of the club by United World, the vehicle of Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad Al Saud, to COH Sports Bidco Limited (CSBL), an American consortium led by Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy. The agreed price was just over £100 million, but United World contends that more than £35 million remains outstanding.
A winding-up petition was filed against CSBL, not the football club itself, on 8 July, with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. If the debt is not settled or a compromise reached, the court can order CSBL to be wound up (liquidated).
Why the club is still implicated
Although the petition targets CSBL, the English Football League (EFL) rules on insolvency events can still affect Sheffield United FC if the owning entity is liquidated. That is because the regulations allow the EFL board to consider whether a club and its parent or group companies function as a single economic entity, and whether actions threaten the integrity and continuity of the competition.
Complicating matters, in June the club’s shares were transferred from CSBL into a new US-based company, 1919 Partners LLC, which is now listed as the parent company of Sheffield United. CSBL no longer holds the shares, but Rosen and Eltoukhy remain as co-chairmen via 1919 Partners, maintaining a clear link to the original buyer.
What each side is saying
United World alleges the share transfer was “an attempt to avoid paying CSBL’s creditors” and says no settlement offer has been made since the petition was issued. In a Tuesday statement, it added: “Paying it would answer all questions about the club’s situation at once. Instead, the owners are running a club they have not paid for.”
Sources close to the current ownership responded that the 2024 deal was “well-advised” by Prince Abdullah’s financial team, insisted the club is “financially healthy”, and claimed the former owner is staging “publicity stunts”. They also said Rosen and Eltoukhy had invited Abdullah to reinvest and support promotion efforts.
United World fired back that “sophisticated and well-advised parties pay the price they agreed”, rejecting any notion that an offer of shares in the sold company counts as payment.
Regulatory watch: EFL and IFR
Neither the EFL nor the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has commented on the share transfer to 1919 Partners, but the IFR confirmed it is engaging with the club and relevant organisations. The EFL’s handbook directs its board to weigh factors including the reputation of the league when a group undertaking suffers an insolvency event.
If the High Court grants a winding-up order against CSBL, the EFL could open an investigation into whether the structure amounts to a breach that warrants sanctions. Under precedent, a 12-point deduction is the standard penalty for an insolvency event affecting a club’s group structure. For comparison, in 2009 Southampton were docked 10 points after their parent company entered administration, with investigators ruling the club and parent were “inextricably linked as one economic entity”.
What happens next
The immediate next step is the High Court hearing. If there is no settlement and a winding-up order is issued, the story moves into a regulatory phase where the EFL assesses the link between CSBL’s insolvency and the football club. United World has warned that, once investigations are completed, there is a “real prospect” of a 12-point deduction being imposed on Sheffield United for the current Championship season.
