Coventry City's existence is under threat as a debt crisis threatens to engulf the League One outfit.

The club owes £1.1m in rent on its Ricoh Arena ground and has 21 days to pay the outstanding amount to stadium company ACL.

Failure to meet the Boxing Day deadline could force Coventry to declare themselves insolvent or face a winding-up order.

"Following the refusal of Coventry City Football Club and its owners, Sisu, to pay outstanding rent to Arena Coventry Limited, the ACL Board has today issued a statutory demand to Coventry City Football Club (CCFC)," said ACL in a statement.

"The statutory demand covers the £1.1 million owed by CCFC to ACL in rent arrears, of a total £1.6m owed by the club.

"This is not a course of action the ACL Board wanted to take. However, the behaviour of Sisu, the owners of CCFC, has left the Board with no choice but to issue the statutory demand."

The firm went on to say that it believes all other means of resolving the situation have been considered, and laid the blame on the club's owners.

"The board feels that all other avenues to resolve this issue have been exhausted and is astonished that the club's owners have allowed matters to come to this sorry pass," the statement continued.

"Responsibility for this situation lies completely with Sisu, a Mayfair hedge fund which has let CCFC fail under its direction."

Coventry issued its own statement expressing disappointment at ACL's decision to issue a statutory demand rather than negotiate a settlement with the club directly.

It added that remaining at its 32,000-seater stadium is financially impossible and its future survival is now dependent on finding another ground.