LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Everton filed an appeal Friday in a bid to overturn the Premier League's decision to deduct 10 points from the club for breaching the competition’s financial rules.

The deduction was the biggest sporting sanction in the Premier League’s 31-year history, dropping Everton into the relegation zone and threatening its 70-year status in the top division.

The club was found by an independent commission to have made a loss of 124.5 million pounds ($155 million) over three years up to the end of the 2021-22 season. The league’s profit and financial sustainability rules allow clubs to lose a maximum of 105 million pounds ($130 million) over a three-year period or face sanctions.

“Everton Football Club has today lodged with the chair of the Premier League’s judicial panel its appeal of the decision by a Premier League commission to impose a 10-point deduction on the club,” Everton said in a brief statement. “An appeal board will now be appointed to hear the case.”

Everton had earlier said the points deduction was “a wholly disproportionate and unjust sporting sanction” and that the club “does not recognize the finding that it failed to act with the utmost good faith.”

The Merseyside club is one of England’s most storied teams as a nine-time league champion and a top-division club since 1954.

Everton, one spot above last-place Burnley on goal difference, plays at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Both Manchester City and reportedly Chelsea have been accused by the league of various breaches of regulations. City, the defending English and European champion, was accused by the league in February of providing misleading information about its finances from 2009-18, covering 115 alleged breaches.

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