Leicester City have been dropped six points after being found to have breached the EFL’s profit and sustainability rules for the 2023/24 season.
The independent panel recommended the sanction, which was ratified by the EFL board on Thursday, and leaves Leicester outside the Championship relegation zone on goal difference alone, falling from 17th to 20th.
The Foxes are currently without a manager as they sacked Marti Sifuentes last month.
The panel was appointed under Premier League rules last May, after the Court of Arbitration ruled that jurisdiction to investigate alleged breaches of EFL rules could be transferred to the Premier League following the Foxes’ promotion to the top flight in 2024.
The commission found that the club exceeded the relevant P&S threshold by £20.8m over the three-year assessment period ending in 2023/24.
The panel also found that the Foxes had breached Premier League rules by failing to provide their annual accounts to the league when asked to do so.
In a statement, Leicester said: “It is with disappointment that Leicester City acknowledges the decision of the independent panel and the club will use the time available to consider its next steps.”
The club said the sanctions recommended by the commission “remain disproportionate” and “do not adequately reflect the mitigating factors presented, the importance of which cannot be overstated given the potential impact on our sporting ambitions this season”.
The Foxes avoided points being deducted for an alleged breach of the top flight’s Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) rules for the 2022/23 season after Leicester’s appeal was upheld in September 2024.
In that case, the appeal board found that the independent commission appointed under the rules of the Premier League did not have jurisdiction over the club, because it ruled that the accounting period 2022/23. ended a month and two days after the club’s relegation from the first league.
In the latter case, the Premier League initially recommended that the EFL’s sanctioning guidelines apply to Leicester, which would mean a 12-point deduction.
He then offered an adjusted methodology according to which the sanction would be 12 points if it is accepted that the total accounting period of three seasons covers 37 months, or eight if it is 36 months.
The Commission decided that the assessment period applicable in this case is 36 months.
The Premier League’s other alternative sanction recommendation was to follow the methodology adopted in Everton’s other PSR case, where there would be a starting point deduction of seven points based on a 36-month assessment period.
‘Nightmare season goes from bad to worse’
Ski Sports EFL Editor Simeon Gholam:
A nightmare season goes from bad to worse for Leicester City. Deducting points was always expected, but to hit them at their lowest point after such a poor run – and at a time when they don’t have a manager in place – makes it all the worse.
A decade ago today they returned to the top of the Premier League, and they would not relinquish that position as they marched towards the title.
As things go, this deduction drops them to 20th in the Championship, above the relegation zone on goal difference alone.
The team is talented but lacks any sort of confidence or cohesion at the moment. This certainly won’t help matters.
Andy King, a club legend and one of the men who lifted that trophy on that halcyon day a decade ago, leads them in the interim positions again on their trip to Birmingham City on Saturday, having only made his debut in a 2-0 defeat at home to Charlton.
Anything short of a win at St Andrews, which seems unlikely, could see them drop into the bottom three. Their lowest point since 2008.
It originally took them seven years to go from League One to Premier League champions. It could only take 10 to get back the other way unless they reverse the current slide.