Republic of Ireland defender Richard Keogh has taken his case against Derby County to the English Football League.

The 33-year-old was sacked by the Championship club after he was involved in a car crash, which has left him out of action for over a year with a serious knee injury.

Keogh was a passenger in a car driven by one of his Derby team-mates Tom Lawrence but Keogh received the harshest punishment even though he was not driving the car.

Mason Bennett and Tom Lawrence were both fined six weeks wages by the club, while both received a two-year driving ban and were ordered by a court to do community work.

The Irish Independent is reporting that Keogh has decided to take his case to the EFL and filed a complaint against Derby over his dismissal.

The Ireland international also has the backing of the PFA and the case will be heard by the EFL this month.

Derby offered Keogh a revised deal on reduced wages before he was dismissed after making more than 300 appearances for the club.

The club believed Keogh's role as captain and the added responsibility the position brings was a factor in the incident.

At the time, the Rams said the club "will not tolerate any of its players or staff behaving in a manner which puts themselves, their colleagues, and members of the general public at risk of injury or worse, or which brings the club into disrepute".

Keogh was an integral member of Mick McCarthy's team for the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign before he suffered the season-ending injury.

Keogh has not spoken publicly about the incident and is unlikely to do so until his case is heard by the EFL.

However, he met up with the Ireland squad in November before the all-important qualifier against Denmark at the Aviva Stadium.