Leicester City have been referred to an independent Commission for alleged breaches of Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR).
The Foxes, who will play Championship football next season, will contest another legal battle following their battle to avoid a points deduction for their financial management during the 2022/23 campaign.
The three new alleged transgressions include breaching the EFL’s PSR rules for the 2023/24 campaign.
The commission will also investigate the club’s failure to provide accounts to the Premier League by 31 December 2024 while also not providing full, complete and prompt assistance to the Premier League.
An EFL Spokesperson said: “The EFL notes that the Premier League has today referred Leicester City to an independent Commission for an alleged breach of Profit and Sustainability Rules for the period ending season 2023/24.
“The EFL commenced an investigation into this reporting period following the March 2024 submissions and as is permitted in accordance with EFL Regulations, jurisdiction for that passed to the Premier League at the conclusion of the 2023/24 season on the Club’s promotion.
“We will now await the outcome of the Premier League proceedings and until then are not able to comment any further on the matter.”
Leicester won an appeal against a previous charge aimed at them for the 2022/23 campaign when they were relegated to the Championship.
The Midlands club argued that the Premier League did not have the authority to charge them because they were officially an EFL club by the time the accounting period had come to an end.
The case went to a tribunal and Leicester were acquitted of the charges, this avoiding a points deduction.
However, the Foxes may find their hopes of overturning a similar sanction more difficult this time round.
Leicester City released a statement on Tuesday morning that read: “The club is pleased that it successfully defended the Premier League’s challenge to the Appeal Board decision in relation to the PSR assessment period ending FY23, which was the main focus of these proceedings.
“The Premier League’s own rules provide a deliberately high threshold for any challenge to the decision of an Appeal Board.
“In this case, the Appeal Board’s decision was only capable of being overturned if it could be shown to have resulted from a ‘perverse interpretation of the law’ or was a decision ‘which could not reasonably have been reached’
“The Appeal Board decision was reached by a highly experienced panel (including two former Court of Appeal judges) and, although the tribunal may have disagreed with the decision, it dismissed the Premier League’s challenge, finding (consistent with the arguments made by the Club all along) that the Appeal Board decision ‘could not sensibly be seen as resulting from a perverse interpretation of the law’.
“The tribunal also concluded that the Premier League was successful in establishing jurisdiction on one of the two grounds argued by the Premier League with respect to the assessment period ending FY24, and the Premier League has now referred this to an independent Commission.
“Consistent with its previous commitments, the club intends to engage cooperatively in this matter now that the Premier League’s jurisdiction has been established for the period ending FY24.
“However, we will not be able to comment further on these proceedings until they are concluded, due to their confidential nature.”
