Arsenal’s claims to Man City’s titles analysed with five historic examples
There’s only one conversation that has dominated the footballing world this week – Manchester City’s financial rule breaches.
City have been found guilty of 114 rule breaches by the Premier League, and now, the Cityzens are in line to have the book thrown at them.
The punishment here will be severe, ranging from hefty fines and transfer bans to potentially even stripping City of their titles.
Stripping a team of a title is a severe measure, but it has happened before, and with Arsenal potentially waiting on this verdict, we’re going to look at five examples of teams being stripped of titles and what happened on those occasions.
Juventus, 2004/05 – Title stripped, no replacement winner
Juventus’ 2004/05 Serie A title is one of the clearest examples of a championship being removed from a club without being handed to the team that finished second.
Juventus won the title by three points from AC Milan, but the following year’s Calciopoli investigation resulted in the Turin club being found guilty of sporting fraud. The scandal centred on the conduct of senior Juventus officials, particularly general manager Luciano Moggi, and allegations concerning the manipulation of referee appointments.
In July 2006, Juventus were stripped of both their 2004/05 and 2005/06 Serie A titles and relegated to Serie B.
However, the 2004/05 championship was not subsequently awarded to Milan. Despite finishing second, Milan were not retrospectively crowned champions. The title was instead left without an official winner.
It remains one of the strongest precedents for the argument that stripping a football champion does not necessarily mean promoting the runner-up.
Juventus, 2005/06 – Title stripped, Inter Milan named as champions
The situation surrounding Juventus’ second stripped title was rather different.
Juventus had again finished top of Serie A in 2005/06, with AC Milan second and Inter Milan third. Following the Calciopoli investigation, Juventus were stripped of the championship and relegated to Serie B.
This time, however, the Italian Football Federation decided that the title should be awarded to Inter.
The reason was that Milan were also punished for their involvement in the scandal. A 30-point deduction moved Milan from second place to third in the revised standings, putting Inter in second and Roma in third.
The FIGC subsequently awarded the Scudetto to Inter on the basis of the revised league table.
That makes the 2005/06 case particularly unusual. Inter did inherit a title after Juventus were stripped, but they were not the original runners-up. They had initially finished third.
The two Juventus cases therefore produced two completely different outcomes. The 2004/05 title was left vacant, while the 2005/06 title was awarded to Inter after the disciplinary process altered the final standings.
Marseille, 1992/93 – Title stripped, PSG refuse championship award
Marseille’s 1992/93 Ligue 1 title was stripped following one of the most notorious scandals in French football history.
Marseille had won the championship after beating Valenciennes 1-0 shortly before their Champions League final against AC Milan. It later emerged that Marseille midfielder Jean-Jacques Eydelie had offered money to Valenciennes players in an attempt to ensure they did not give Marseille a difficult game ahead of the European final.
The allegations triggered a major investigation. Marseille were subsequently stripped of their Ligue 1 title, relegated from the top division and prevented from defending their European title.
Paris Saint-Germain had finished second in the league and therefore could have been the natural successor to Marseille as champions.
However, PSG declined both the Ligue 1 title and Marseille’s place in the following season’s Champions League. Their owners, Canal+, were concerned about the potential commercial consequences of accepting the honours, particularly in southern France.
As a result, the 1992/93 Ligue 1 title was left vacant.
Elgin City, 1992/93 – Title stripped, no replacement champion named
The case of Elgin City is a much less famous example, but it is particularly interesting because the club was actually stripped of a domestic league championship after a dispute over player eligibility.
Elgin finished top of the Highland League in the 1992/93 season, with Cove Rangers finishing second.
The controversy centred on Elgin’s final league match against Forres Mechanics. The fixture was brought forward from Saturday to Friday after Elgin requested the change. The league subsequently ruled that the move had allowed two Elgin players to take part despite the fact that they were due to begin suspensions on the original date of the match.
Both players played in Elgin’s 6-0 victory, which secured the club the championship.
The Highland League’s management committee subsequently decided that Elgin had breached the competition’s rules and stripped the club of the championship.
Elgin disputed the decision and argued that the league had approved the change of date and that they had not knowingly broken the rules.
Cove Rangers, who had finished second, did not receive the championship. The title was instead withheld.
The case is useful because it demonstrates that even when a team is stripped of a championship and there is a clear second-placed club waiting behind them, the runner-up does not necessarily inherit the title.
Fenerbahce, 2010/11 – Found guilty of match fixing, Trabzonspor claimed, no change made
Fenerbahce’s 2010/11 Turkish league title is slightly different from the other four examples because the club was never stripped of the championship.
Fenerbahce finished level on points with Trabzonspor but won the title on goal difference. Shortly afterwards, a major match-fixing investigation centred on the 2010/11 season. Fenerbahçe officials were among those implicated, and the club was subsequently excluded from UEFA competition as a result of the disciplinary proceedings.
Trabzonspor, who had finished second, argued that Fenerbahce should lose the championship and that they should be declared Turkish champions.
The dispute eventually reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Trabzonspor asked for the league table to be corrected, Fenerbahçe to return the championship and the title to be awarded to them.
However, CAS rejected the case. One important aspect of the ruling was that finishing second did not, by itself, give Trabzonspor an automatic right to the championship.
Fenerbahce therefore retained the official 2010/11 title.
The case is particularly relevant because it demonstrates the distinction between believing a champion should be stripped of a title and actually having that title transferred to the runner-up. Even after a major disciplinary controversy, there was no automatic mechanism for Trabzonspor to inherit the championship.
What does this mean for Arsenal?
These five examples show that basically anything is on the table for Arsenal and Manchester City here. There’s precedent for the title to be stripped with no winner, awarded to a runner-up, being upheld despite clear cheating verdicts and being offered to a runner-up and refused.
The Premier League have a very difficult decision to make when it comes to Man City, and it will be interesting to see how they handle this.