Championship clubs 'demand' sanction for Leeds United's promotion rivals amid £215m revelation

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Leeds United could lose out on promotion to Leicester City.

The English Football League (EFL) is reportedly facing pressure from several Championship clubs to sanction Leicester City, following confirmation of their massive financial losses from last season.

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Leicester published their accounts for the 2022/23 season on Tuesday evening, announcing a massive £89.7million loss. It is their second straight year of major losses, having confirmed a £92.5m deficit for the 2021/22 campaign.

The Foxes were relegated from the Premier League last season and were recently charged for an alleged breach of their profitability and sustainability rules. Top-flight clubs are permitted to lose a maximum of £105m over a three-year period, but Leicester’s losses over that time frame total a whopping £215.3m - more than twice the limit.

It means they could receive a points deduction upon a potential return to the top-flight, but The Telegraph reports that a number of Championship clubs are calling for punishment before this season finishes. There are thought to be concerns that they have gained a sporting advantage by unfair means.

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Leicester have already been placed under a transfer embargo by the EFL, prohibiting them from signing any new players, but there are frustrations among some second-tier clubs that the club’s financial mismanagement has given them an unfair advantage in the promotion race. A number of current players were signed during the three-year period in which they seem to have breached profitability and sustainability rules.

In the three-year period ending with the 2022/23 campaign, the Foxes spent significant money on the likes of Wout Faes, Harry Souttar, Patson Daka and Jannik Vestergaard. They also had the highest wage bill outside the Premier League’s ‘big six’ last season and are not thought to have included relegation-related wage reductions in any contracts.

Following their charge by the Premier League last month, Leicester insist they will defend their case and cite an ‘unexpected decline in sporting achievement’ as one of several mitigating factors. With Everton and Nottingham Forest also charged this season, it means that all three teams who finished directly above Leeds last season have allegedly breached PSR.

Leicester currently sit third in the Championship, one point behind Leeds in second but with a game in hand. That extra game will come at home to Southampton later this month.