Sheffield Wednesday, one of England's oldest soccer clubs, is in crisis

When Sheffield Wednesday FC kick off the new season on Sunday — away at Leicester City in the Championship, the second tier of British soccer — more than 3,000 traveling fans will not take their seats to cheer on their beloved team, known as the Owls.

LONDON — One of the world’s oldest soccer teams is in big trouble.

When Sheffield Wednesday FC kicks off the new season on Sunday — away at Leicester City in the Championship, the second tier of British soccer — more than 3,000 traveling fans will not take their seats to cheer on their beloved team, known as the Owls.

Instead, they will hold a five-minute protest outside Leicester’s King Power Stadium against one man: Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, Wednesday’s owner and the focal point of a growing crisis that may threaten its very existence.

The team’s financial problems are mounting, and unsuccessful attempts to sell it have dominated local sports media and online forums for months — and the crisis has much wider implications for the health of English soccer away from the glitzy riches of Liverpool and Manchester City.

The problem is so acute that the British government has passed a new law that will launch a football regulator to police the buying and selling of teams and make sure owners are “fit and proper.”