The competition regulator has found Leicester City football club and JD Sports “colluded” to restrict competition in football kit sales and fix prices.

Both parties admitted to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that they broke competition law over three football seasons by fixing prices and arranging limitations on the sale of branded clothes and replica kit.

Fans may have paid more for goods as a result, the CMA said.

But only Leicester City has been hit with a fine of £880,000.

Had the club not admitted wrongdoing a heavier fine would have been levied, the regulator added, and the investigation would not have come to as swift a resolution.

JD Sport evaded a financial penalty by reporting the illegal conduct and admitting its participation.

Because of this, the retailer was granted a leniency application, provided it continues to co-operate and comply with the CMA.

“The fine that Leicester City FC and its parent companies have agreed to pay sends a clear message to them and other businesses that anti-competitive collusion will not be tolerated,” the executive director of enforcement at the CMA said.

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Wednesday’s announcement is only a provisional assessment of the case, the CMA said.

Market arranging behaviour meant JD Sports “largely” stopped online sales of Leicester City FC products for the 2018/19 season, the watchdog said, while price-fixing resulted in JD Sports making Leicester City FC branded clothes exempt from the normal free delivery offer for the 2019/2020 season and some of the 2020/21 season.

It also had been agreed that JD Sports would stop selling Leicester City-branded clothing online for the 2018/19 season and that JD Sports would not undercut Leicester City’s online sales for the 2019/20 season by adding a delivery charge to all orders of Leicester City-branded clothing – disapplying its normal offer of free online delivery for all orders over £70.

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Club insists it had ‘no intention’ of wrongdoing

Leicester City said no current club directors or senior management were involved in the arrangements.

“These arrangements related to a limited number of bulk orders by JD Sports, which were accepted by the club’s retail sales team over the relevant period,” the club added in a statement.

“There was no intention on the part of the club to unlawfully restrict the resale of the goods supplied and no material financial advantage to be gained from doing so, given the limited amount of kit supplied to JD Sports.

“However, the club accepts the CMA’s findings and has taken steps to strengthen its training and compliance measures to ensure the club’s retail operations fully comply with competition law.”

JD Sports also highlighted that current or former directors or senior management were not involved in the offending conduct and that it signed a leniency agreement with the CMA last month.

The company added: “JD has taken a number of steps to strengthen its competition compliance programme and the board reaffirms its commitment to making the necessary resource available, internal and external, to ensure that this is embedded into its daily operations.”

It comes almost a year after JD Sports, rival Elite Sports and Rangers Football Club were handed fines over price fixing on replica kits.

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