England: Southampton’s expulsion from Premier League promotion play-offs upheld on appeal

A League Arbitration Panel has upheld Southampton FC’s expulsion from the Premier League promotion play-offs, the English Football League announced on 20 May 2026. The panel therefore confirmed the original sanction, including a four-point deduction to be applied to the 2026-27 Championship table.

The club, which finished 4^th in the 2025-26 Sky Bet Championship regular season and qualified for the play-off final after defeating Middlesbrough FC in the semi-finals (1-0 on aggregate), had been expelled from the play-offs by an Independent Disciplinary Commission on 19 May.

The expulsion was imposed after the club admitted to multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training sessions. On 08 May, Middlesbrough accused Southampton of observing and recording a training session ahead of the tie between the two clubs, before further allegations were made by other clubs on 17 May "in relation to additional breaches during the 2025-26 season."

Southampton admitted breaching regulations prohibiting the observation of opponents’ training sessions in…