Southampton, EFL and Spygate
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Premier League teams relegated 2026: Which clubs are going down to EFL Championship for next season?
For teams in the richest domestic football competition in the world, relegation from the Premier League is a catastrophic outcome that clubs look to avoid at all costs and expense.
Southampton have failed in their appeal to get their expulsion from the Championship play-offs overturned. Saints were thrown out of the play-off final by an independent disciplinary commission after they admitted multiple breaches of spying on other teams – including on play-off semi-final opponents Middlesbrough before the first leg.
Southampton were found guilty of a “deplorable” act of putting pressure on a junior member of staff to spy on Middlesbrough, the EFL has said. Saints are now under investigation by the Football Association in relation to the ‘Spygate’ scandal which cost them their place in the Championship play-off final.
EFL sides including Hull, Middlesbrough, Bolton and Stockport are heading to Wembley Stadium this weekend for the final game in the 2025/26 season
Forty-six rounds of games later, the race for promotion in the English Football League has hit its thrilling conclusion. It's the playoffs, the 15 games in League Two, League One and the Championship that seem never to disappoint.
The Championship play-off final is still in limbo pending Southampton's appeal with the English Football League providing two different start times for two different games.As it stands, the EFL
Championship, League One and League Two semi-finals will take place between Friday May 8 and Friday May 15; finals at Wembley across Bank Holiday weekend of May 23, 24 and 25, Sky customers can watch on TV or via the Sky Sports app; non-Sky customers can ...
It was a day full of drama as Hull City nipped Wrexham at the wire to slip into sixth and the last seed in the promotion playoffs
The EFL announced the sanction on Tuesday, four days before the final on Saturday, after Southampton admitted to spying on other clubs.
The FA has opened an investigation into Southampton’s Championship ‘spygate’ scandal after the club was expelled from the play-offs and docked points by the EFL.