(Reuters) - The UK's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has launched an investigation into alleged fraud at five-a-side football pitch operator Goals Soccer Centres Plc <GOAL.L>, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Goals said earlier this month that it would delist its shares from London's AIM market in September after an investigation into its accounting uncovered "improper behaviour" going back almost a decade and made it impossible to file last year's accounts on time.
The company, in which retail tycoon Mike Ashley's Sports Direct <SPD.L> holds a stake of almost 19%, had said that its audit for full-year 2018 had been suspended and that its shares would stop trading on the index from Sept. 30.
FCA and Goals were not immediately available for comment on Sunday.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru)
