Leicester docked six points after breaching EFL profit and sustainability rules

Leicester have been docked six points after being found to have breached EFL profit and sustainability (P&S) rules for the 2023-24 season.

An independent commission recommended the sanction, which was ratified by the EFL board on Thursday.

The commission was appointed under Premier League rules last May, after an arbitration tribunal ruled jurisdiction to investigate alleged breaches of EFL rules could transfer to the Premier League following the Foxes’ promotion to the top flight in 2024.

The commission determined the club had breached the relevant P&S threshold by £20.8million over the three-year assessment period ending 2023-24.

The Foxes were also found by the commission to have breached Premier League rules in failing to provide their annual accounts to the league when requested to do so.

Leicester said in a statement: “It is with disappointment that Leicester City acknowledges the independent commission’s decision and the club will use the time available to consider its next steps.”

The club said the points sanction the commission recommended “remains disproportionate” and “does 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 a points deduction in relation to alleged breaches of the top flight’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) for the 2022-23 season after an appeal by Leicester was upheld in September 2024. An appeal board found in that instance the independent commission appointed under Premier League rules did not have jurisdiction over the club, because it ruled the 2022-23 accounting period ended a month and two days after the club’s relegation from the top flight.

The points deduction drops Leicester from 17th to 20th in the Championship, with the east midlands club now on 32 points.

In the latest case, the Premier League initially recommended the EFL sanctioning guidelines should be applied as normal to Leicester, which would have meant a 12-point deduction.

It then offered an adjusted methodology under which the sanction would be 12 points if it was accepted that the total three-season accounting period covered 37 months, or eight if it was 36 months.

The commission decided the applicable assessment period in this case was 36 months.

The Premier League’s second alternative recommendation on sanction was to follow the methodology adopted in Everton’s second PSR case, where there would be a starting point of a seven-point deduction on the basis of a 36-month assessment period.