Sheffield United Faces 12-Point Deduction Threat After Liquidation

Sheffield United face the threat of a 12-point deduction after the company that bought the club was placed into liquidation at the High Court – in a hearing that lasted barely 10 seconds.

COH Sports Bidco Limited (CSBL), the vehicle that agreed to purchase the Championship side for just over £100m in December 2024, still owed around £35m on the deal when former owners United World filed a winding-up petition last month. On Wednesday, with no-one from CSBL present in court, the judge ordered the company into liquidation.

United World, the group through which Saudi Arabian Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad Al Saud owned the club, later said it had made "every effort to resolve this matter amicably" but had "received no response".

The club itself moved quickly to distance day-to-day football operations from the legal storm.

"Sheffield United Football Club is aware of today's hearing at the High Court," a 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."

On paper, that is true. The company that has been wound up is not Sheffield United Football Club.

In practice, nothing about this is simple.

A winding-up, a share shuffle – and a regulatory headache

Under EFL rules, an insolvency event at the club normally triggers an automatic points deduction. Here, the company in liquidation is CSBL, the entity used to buy United, not the club itself. That distinction means there is no automatic punishment.

The EFL has not closed the door, though. It said it would now examine the fallout from CSBL's liquidation, "including whether any further action is required".

A spokesman added that the league is also looking at "other regulatory matters" linked to changes in the ownership structure and "developments within the wider group".

Those “developments” go back to June, when shares in Sheffield United were moved out of CSBL and into a new US-based company, 1919 Partners LLC. That company then became the "parent company of Sheffield United".

From that moment, CSBL no longer controlled the club.

Yet the link has not disappeared. CSBL was led by co-chairmen Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy – the same pair who now control Sheffield United through 1919 Partners LLC. The ownership may have been shuffled on paper, but the people in charge remain the same.

BBC Sport understands that neither the EFL nor the new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) had been told in advance that this transfer of shares was going to happen. Neither body has commented publicly on that point. The IFR has confirmed it is in contact with the club to gather more information.

So the league is left to decide: is this simply a failed holding company, or something that should still count as an insolvency event in football terms?

A long-running saga under Prince Abdullah

This is not the first time Sheffield United’s boardroom has spilled into the courts.

Prince Abdullah first bought 50% of the club in 2013 and only took full control in 2019, after a lengthy and bitter High Court battle to secure the remaining shares. His spell as owner was marked by controversy off the pitch and, more recently, financial strain.

United World’s sale of the club to CSBL was supposed to draw a line under that chapter. Instead, the story has twisted again.

The Blades were already hit with a two-point deduction during the 2024-25 season for missed transfer payments dating back to the 2022-23 campaign, when Prince Abdullah was still in charge. Those breaches highlighted the fragility of the club’s finances even before the takeover.

CSBL did make an initial payment when the sale closed. The trouble started with the first instalment that followed. That payment, due last year, arrived late and only after a statutory demand – and it landed right on the deadline.

The £35m at the centre of this week’s High Court ruling is another instalment. CSBL has not denied it owes the money. It simply has not paid it.

That unpaid debt has now sunk the company that bought Sheffield United. Whether it drags the club into a points deduction is the question that hangs over Bramall Lane – and over the EFL’s rulebook.