Hamilton Academical deducted 15 points after breaching SPFL rules - They fall to bottom of Championship and could be relegated from division they won promotion to after beating Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Hamilton Academical have been deducted 15 points and fined £9000 for breaching a number of SPFL rules which leaves them on the brink of being relegated from the Championship to League One.
Accies, who beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle last season in the Championship play-off final, were found guilty of four charges by an SPFL Disciplinary Tribunal today,
The charges include incorrect information about stadium ownership, the late provision of the club’s membership criteria submission for Season 2025/26, their SFA licence being downgraded from bronze to entry level and failing to notify the SPFL about payments involving six players.
The charges include:
Charge 1: Breach of Rules B1, E17 and E18 in relation to the failure to notify the SPFL of Remuneration Defaults in respect of six players and a failure to act with the utmost good faith in its representations to the SPFL Board regarding the lifting of a transfer embargo after previous Remuneration and Tax Defaults.
Sanction: Immediate 12 point deduction and £5,000 fine
Charge 2: Breach of Rule D4.3.2 in relation to the provision of incorrect information regarding stadium ownership in the Club’s Season 2024/25 Membership Criteria submission.
Sanction: £3,000 fine (£1,500 of which has been suspended)
Charge 3: Breach of Rule D4.8 in relation to the downgrading of the Club’s Scottish FA Club Licence overall award from Bronze to Entry level.
Sanction: Immediate 3 point deduction
Charge 4: Breach of Rule E28.7 in relation to the late provision of the Club’s Membership Criteria submission for Season 2025/26.
Sanction: £1,000 fine (fully suspended)
The 15 point deduction will see Hamilton Academical drop from seventh to last place in the Championship. They are now eight points behind Airdrie in ninth with three games remaining. Failure to win their next match against Queen’s Park will result in Hamilton being relegated to League One next season.
The club does have the right to appeal the sanction to the Scottish FA.
Hamilton Academical won promotion to the Championship from League One after defeating Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the play-off final last season.
A 2-1 win in the first leg and 3-2 victory at the Caledonian Stadium gave Hamilton a 5-3 win on aggregate to win promotion and relegate Inverness to League One.
Hamilton Academical have become the fourth team to be deducted points in the SPFL this season.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle were deducted 15 points after they went into administration in October.
However, they are close to exiting administration as Orion Group founder Alan Savage has had an £800,000 bid to purchase the club accepted by administrators BDO.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle are currently in eighth place, three points clear of Annan Athletic in the relegation play-off zone with three games remaining.
Dumbarton also went into administration in November and were deducted 15 points which saw them drop below Inverness Caledonian Thistle to the bottom of League One.
The Sons have already been relegated to League Two, but also look like getting out of administration after agreeing a deal with all creditors paid in full.
In November, Bonnyrigg Rose were deducted six points due to the slope on their New Dundas Park pitch which downgraded their licence from bronze level to entry level.
Bonnyrigg are currently bottom of League Two and seven points behind Forfar Athletic with three games remaining. If they finish bottom they will have to face the winner of the League Two Play-off semi final between East Kilbride and Brora Rangers to save their place in the division next season.
