Twente Enschede relegated for transfer violations

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Twente Enschede have been relegated to the second division in the Netherlands as punishment for breaching financial regulations linked to the transfer market, the Dutch football association announced on Wednesday.

The announcement followed crisis talks between the Dutch FA and the club after Twente missed their latest deadline for meeting targets set in a financial recovery plan.

The club, which former England manager Steve McClaren took to their only Dutch league title in 2010, had already had three points docked, been fined 200,000 Euros and banned from European club competition for three years by the Dutch FA.

The threat of sanctions has been hanging over the club for the last two seasons. In the 2014-15 season, they were docked a total of six points when they twice missed recovery targets set them by the FA.

Twente, who finished the latest season in 13th place despite the points sanction, are accused over irregularities in the transfer market.

These include a 5-million euro investment by Doyen Sports Investments in return for a percentage of the proceeds of the sale of players which is banned under FA regulations.

(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Richard Balmforth; [e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: Reuters Messaging: [e-mail])