BBC puts a price tag on Man City’s rule breach: up to £844m

Manchester City’s alleged rule breach has a calculated knock-on cost of up to £844m for other clubs in English football, according to an analysis by BBC Sport. The piece notes that City continues to deny wrongdoing and has appealed.

At the heart of the assessment is the charges linked to inflating sponsorship income, put at £830m, with a further £90m in expenses. BBC Sport argues that stripping out that money would reshape how competition prizes, Europe qualification and relegation outcomes play out.

Impact through Europe and relegation

The method uses published prize money by season. For Champions League impacts, BBC Sport takes City’s earnings from the relevant years and deducts the Europa League prize money for the teams it considers affected.

One detailed example is Tottenham: over four seasons missing out on the Champions League, City earned £148.2m, while Tottenham’s Europa League winnings totalled £29.9m. In the biggest deficit period, 2014-15, City received £71.2m for reaching the Champions League semi-finals, while Spurs were paid £17.7m in the Europa League— a gap of £53.5m. The analysis also covers Liverpool’s case after losing the 2015-16 EFL Cup final on penalties following a 1-1 draw versus City.

The report quotes Mauricio Pochettino saying the game has lived through “a period of deception”, adding that “no type of punishment” can repair what was done.