Leicester pay EFL £3.1m to settle fair play dispute

London (AFP) – Leicester City have paid the English Football League £3.1 million ($4.3 million, 3.51 million euros) to settle a Financial Fair Play dispute, it was announced Wednesday.

The EFL governs the three divisions below the Premier League and Leicester were deemed to have breached their FFP rules when they won the 2013/14 second-tier Championship title, thereby gaining automatic promotion to the top flight.

But the EFL have now said Leicester “did not make any deliberate attempt to infringe the rules or to deceive”, with problems arising from differing interpretations of the rules.

Queens Park Rangers, who finished fourth that season before being promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs, launched a legal challenge against the EFL’s rules that is still ongoing.

“In reaching a settlement, the EFL acknowledges that the club (Leicester) did not make any deliberate attempt to infringe the rules or to deceive and that the dispute arose out of genuine differences of interpretation of the rules between the parties,” said a Football League statement.

“All relevant matters were taken into account when determining the quantum of the settlement.

“The agreed settlement of £3,100,000 is in full and final settlement of all and any claims by the EFL against the club and its officers, in respect of the FFP Regulations for season 2013/14.”

Financial Fair Play rules, now in force across a number of leagues and European competitions, are designed to stop clubs bankrupting themselves in pursuit of success and also to ensure that teams are not penalised unduly for sound financial management.