The English Football League (EFL) was rocked by a huge scandal ahead of the most important match of the season - the playoff final for reaching the Premier League. Middlesbrough has officially called for Southampton to be disqualified through espionage.

The conflict flared up just before last Thursday. Southampton are calling for the closed training sessions of Middlesbrough at their training base Rockliffe Park. The incident occurred just as the teams were preparing for the first semi-final match at the Riverside Stadium.

Podsumkovy had a permanent ticket to the final against the Saints themselves, having defeated Boro in the additional hour of the match. Southampton are now set to play their final match against Gull City on Saturday 23rd May at Vembly.

Proceeding from the match being held at the designated time for nutrition - the date may be postponed depending on the results of the disciplinary investigation. In response to the incident initiated by the EFL, an independent disciplinary committee will be held on Tuesday, May 19 (or earlier).

The situation is complicated by the fact that representatives of Middlesbrough were not allowed to take part in their meeting. Removal of the right to be present, Boro withdrawing from public brutality before the league. The club wants to exclude Southampton from the playoffs, obviously, as the only way to ensure fairness and discourage other teams from resorting to similar tricks in the future.

The Middlesbrough administration categorically condemned the rival's actions, calling them such that they are directly indicative of sporting integrity and fair competition. In the opinion of the club, financial fines do not compensate for the damage caused, it is a sporting punishment and there is no alternative.

“We still suspect that the EFL, as a regulator, will introduce such sanctions in order to destroy the integrity of the game, to destroy all member clubs and streams in any way possible in the future to reverse the unfair and illegal advantage in the past..