English Football League clubs have voted in favour of bringing the close of the summer transfer window forward to August 9.
The deadline for teams in the second, third and fourth tiers will now come a few days after the opening round of fixtures.
However, it has been agreed that players can still be registered on loan up until August 31, which was the original cut-off point for all transfers.
Forty of the 72 teams voted in favour of the proposal to bring the EFL window in line with that of the Premier League, while 29 went against.
EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: "After discussing the options throughout the course of the last few months, I'm pleased that the matter has been determined by clubs ahead of the start of next season.
"This new approach will give clubs and managers the stability they crave earlier in the season whilst also providing the flexibility to add to their squads after the traditional deadline until the end of month if required."
In a separate law introduced, at least 10 outfield players from clubs' previous fixtures must continue in the side from games on or after March 4, starting from this year.
Daniel Lewis
