Southampton expelled from play-offs for spying

ByDale JohnsonFootball issues correspondent

Published19 May 2026, 18:48 BST

Updated 4 minutes ago

Southampton have been thrown out of the Championship play-offs for spying on Middlesbrough ahead of the first leg of their semi-final tie.

The club have also received a four-point deduction in the Championship in 2026-27 season.

Middlesbrough, beaten by Southampton in the semi-final, have been reinstated and will now play Hull City for a play in the Premier League.

The final will remain on Saturday at Wembley with the kick-off time to be confirmed.

Southampton had admitted to "multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs' training", the EFL said.

The club have also received a reprimand in respect of all the charges.

Recap: What did Southampton do?

A man in a dark jacket and blue jeans stands partially concealed by a tree trunk and holds a phone up in two hands as if filming and has a white earphone in his right ear

Image source, OtherImage caption,

Spygate is alleged to have taken place two days before Middlesbrough play-off semi-final first leg against Southampton

It was the morning of Thursday, 7 May.

Middlesbrough were at their Rockliffe Park training base preparing for the game against Southampton 48 hours later.

The spy, a Southampton analyst, is said to have parked at the golf club, then walked a couple of hundred yards down a road which leads to a raised area of ground.

Sources told the BBC that the accused simply stood pointing his mobile at the training session, while wearing in-ear headphones.

Middlesbrough staff believe he may have been live-streaming the session via a video call.

A member of Middlesbrough's staff approached, say BBC sources, but the person would not identify himself. Then, he quickly deleted some content off his phone before running off into the golf club.

He jogged into the toilets, changed his clothes and hurriedly left the site.

Middlesbrough's photographer took photos and matched him to a photo on the Southampton website. One of those pictures was subsequently made public last week.

Boro were furious and quickly reported it to the EFL.

The EFL charged Southampton with breaking two regulations.

EFL Regulation 3.4, which requires clubs to act towards each other with the utmost good faith; and

EFL Regulation 127, which prohibits any club from observing, or attempting to observe, another club's training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match between the two clubs.

More to follow.