Child sex abuse: Eight remaining football clubs respond to abuse inquiry

Police have identified more than 250 potential suspects and 560 victims, with 311 clubs involved

Eight professional clubs have responded after initially missing an inquiry's deadline for giving information about historical child sex abuse in football.

The inquiry, led by barrister Clive Sheldon QC, was started by the Football Association in December after allegations from former players.

Sheldon wrote to every club in England and Wales in January.

The EFL said in a statement it was "very disappointed" to learn eight clubs had missed the 15 March deadline.

Those clubs, which have not been named, had been warned they could face sanctions.

"Having been made aware of the situation, the EFL immediately made contact with the relevant clubs and secured a response," said the statement.

"The EFL is satisfied that its clubs were not seeking to 'obstruct' the process but acknowledges that the failure to respond within the given time frames created unnecessary speculation and was unhelpful.

"All 72 clubs will once again be reminded that the EFL expects their full co-operation with the review."

The review is asking anyone involved with football who wishes to provide information about the way in which clubs or the FA dealt with concerns over child sex abuse between 1970 and 2005 to come forward.

Sheldon - an expert in safeguarding and child protection - has also written to all 65,000 affiliated clubs seeking assistance, and has begun meeting individuals who can contribute.

BBC Sport has learned that investigators have started searching 5,000 boxes of FA archives - each containing up to 1,000 pages.

A final report is not expected to be published until 2018.