Pochettino: Chelsea’s 2016-17 Premier League title should be given to Tottenham
By Joel Masibo, September 10, 2026Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino believes his side should have been handed the 2016-17 Premier League trophy following Chelsea’s admission of historical rule breaches.
Chelsea were fined £10.75 million (about Ksh1.85 billion) in March 2026 after the Premier League found breaches dating back several years. The club also faced a proposed six-point deduction, although that punishment was later “set aside” following an appeal.
Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side ended the 2016-17 campaign seven points ahead of Pochettino’s Tottenham, who finished second.
Chelsea’s current owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, reported 74 potential breaches of Football Association regulations after completing their takeover of the club in 2022.
The club subsequently acknowledged that £47 million (approximately Ksh8.08 billion) had been paid secretly to unregistered agents and other third parties in connection with transfers carried out between 2011 and 2018.
Pochettino, who managed Tottenham between 2014 and 2019, believes those revelations mean his former club should now be recognised as champions for the 2016-17 season.
“We should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it.
“[Chelsea] were punished, they admitted, so that’s it? The title should be for the team that was second.
“It’s true that we didn’t compete with the same rules. It’s completely fair to say that we didn’t compete before the start of the season with the same card.”
During his five-year spell at Tottenham, Pochettino guided the club to the 2019 Champions League final. However, he did not win a trophy, with his highest Premier League finish coming when Spurs ended the 2016-17 season as runners-up to Chelsea.
The Argentine, who later spent the 2023-24 campaign as Chelsea manager, suggested that Tottenham’s recruitment and performance could have been different if the same financial rules had applied to everyone.
“Maybe with the same rules, if we apply the same things, maybe we could’ve signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals,” added Pochettino.
He insisted his comments were not motivated by bitterness but by what he considers to be a matter of fairness.
“It’s not me complaining – it’s the truth. If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team.
“I’m not scared to say the truth. The [Chelsea] fans will be upset with me because I’m saying this, but if we were at [Tottenham] and broke the rules I’d admit the same.”
What led to Chelsea’s punishment?
Chelsea reported possible historical violations after the change of ownership in 2022, saying it “treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators”.
A Premier League investigation subsequently established that payments involving parties connected with Chelsea had been made to players, unregistered agents and other individuals without being declared to the relevant authorities at the time.
The transactions covered a number of Chelsea transfers between 2011 and 2018, including deals involving Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
There was no allegation that any of those players had acted improperly. Hazard, Willian, Matic and David Luiz were all members of Chelsea’s squad during the 2016-17 season.
The Premier League later reassessed Chelsea’s historic financial submissions after including the previously undisclosed payments. Its calculations found that the club would still have complied with the profitability and sustainability rules had the payments been reported at the appropriate time.
As a result, the Premier League decided that deducting points would not be an appropriate sanction.
Chelsea’s £10 million element of the fine, around Ksh1.72 billion, was reduced from a potential £20 million (Ksh3.44 billion) by 50 per cent because of the club’s decision to self-report the breaches and co-operate with the investigation.
The separate £750,000 penalty imposed in March, worth approximately Ksh129 million, related to academy player registrations between 2019 and 2022. Chelsea were also given an immediate nine-month ban on academy transfers in connection with that offence.