{"id":583805,"date":"2026-05-14T15:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/583805\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T15:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:36:17","slug":"spygate-hearing-date-set-as-southampton-face-expulsion-and-play-off-final-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/583805\/","title":{"rendered":"Spygate hearing date set as Southampton face expulsion and play-off final at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hull City have reached the Championship Play-off final and should face Southampton – but their participation is in major doubt following the spying allegations levelled at them by semi-final opponents Middlesbrough<\/p>\n

13:46, 14 May 2026Updated 16:25, 14 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"Referee<\/p>\n

Referee Andy Madley has words with Kim Hellberg of Middlesbrough and Tonda Eckert of Southampton as tempers simmer during the semi-final(Image: Robin Jones\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The independent hearing into ‘Spygate’<\/a> will take place on Friday to decide the fate of Southampton’s promotion hopes.<\/p>\n

A commission made up of three legal experts is expected to hold the meeting behind closed doors in London.<\/p>\n

Southampton<\/a> have been charged by the EFL with spying on a training session held by semi-final opponents Middlesbrough ahead of last week’s Championship play-off, first leg.<\/p>\n

Southampton beat Middlesbrough over two legs to set-up a final showdown with Hull City<\/a>. But the showpiece game, which is worth more than \u00a3200m to the eventual winners, could be in serious danger of getting postponed.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ex-Southampton staff member ‘helping Middlesbrough’ build Spygate case in shock twist<\/a>READ MORE: Southampton boss could face BAN over Spygate saga as Saints delete Wembley ticket info<\/a><\/p>\n

The commission will examine the charges – and has the power to expel Southampton from the competition if found guilty. But this would result in a legal challenge from Southampton’s owners ‘Sport Republic’, which would have to be held this weekend if the play-off final was to still take place at Wembley on May 23.<\/p>\n

The EFL have been unable to confirm what time the game will kick-off. In the meantime, Hull have been left in limbo as a result of the scandal.<\/p>\n

The Tigers have now pleaded for patience from frustrated fans, who have been unable to purchase tickets or book travel arrangements for the trip to London.<\/p>\n

\"Mohamed<\/p>\n

Hull have yet to provide ticket details to their supporters for the play-off final(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Tickets will not be printed or made available until the outcome of the hearing has been confirmed.<\/p>\n

The Tigers issued a statement saying full details of the ticket sales process would be communicated “in due course”.<\/p>\n

It said: “Until then, we kindly ask supporters to refrain from contacting the ticket office while final details are being confirmed. We appreciate your continued patience and support.”<\/p>\n

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Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package<\/p>\n

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a>\"Content<\/p>\n

Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.<\/p>\n

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hull City have reached the Championship Play-off final and should face Southampton – but their participation is in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,22145,2946,565,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-583805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-middlesbrough-fc","tag-sky-sports","tag-southampton","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}