Leicester fined for overspending on Premier League promotion

Leicester-City's-Riyad-Mahrez,-left,-warms-up-with-teammates-prior-to-the-Emirates-FA-Cup.-(Martin-Rickett/PA-via-AP)

Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez, left, warms up with teammates prior to the Emirates FA Cup. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

LONDON — Leicester will have to pay a fine of more than $4 million for overspending to gain promotion to the Premier League, two years before surprisingly winning the English top-flight title in 2016.

A long-running dispute between Leicester and the English Football League ended with a settlement of 3.1 million pounds ($4.3 million) that was announced on Wednesday. The EFL has claimed Leicester broke Financial Fair Play rules during the 2013-14 season, when it won the second-division Championship title.

The EFL says it "acknowledges that the club 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."

Leicester is owned by Thai retail company King Power.

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