Manchester City rule-breaking fallout: The Premier League clubs hit hardest financially

The economic fallout from the Manchester City case reaches far beyond the trophies they lifted. An independent Premier League commission ruled that the club inflated sponsorship income by £830 million and added a further £90 million in irregular expenses. Without that money, the recent story of English football would look very different: clubs missing out on the Champions League, teams relegated, and millions in prize money changing hands.

• As many as 35 teams played in the Premier League between 2009 and 2018 and could claim some form of financial loss.
• The estimated total impact on clubs other than Manchester City comes to £844 million.
• Tottenham Hotspur suffered the biggest net loss, close to £120 million.
• Several relegations by a single place, including Hull, Swansea and Newcastle, add heavily to the bill for those affected.
• Manchester City deny any wrongdoing and have appealed, so the process remains open.

Which clubs lost the most money because of Manchester City's dominance

The financial impact was far from uniform. BBC Sport has cross-referenced published Premier League and UEFA earnings from each affected season to estimate how much each club may have missed out on. The overall figure reaches £844 million, spread across domestic competitions, European competitions and relegation.

Of that total, £88.3 million relates to domestic cup competitions and the Europa League. The bulk, £812.3 million, comes from the Premier League, including both final position payments and broadcast revenue.

Tottenham Hotspur, the biggest casualty: almost £120 million at stake

Tottenham Hotspur finished one place outside the Champions League spots in four of the eight seasons in which Manchester City qualified for Europe's elite competition. One of those, the 2014-15 campaign, came under Mauricio Pochettino. The gap between what City earned in Europe and what Spurs collected from the Europa League is striking.

Across those four seasons, City banked £148.2 million from the Champions League, while Tottenham had to settle for £29.9 million from the Europa League. The biggest deficit came after 2014-15: City earned £71.2 million for reaching the European semi-finals, while Spurs received only £17.7 million. A gap of £53.5 million.

On top of that, there is £6.6 million from finishing behind City in the table on six occasions. The north London club did benefit indirectly in 2013-14, reaching Europe because City beat Sunderland in the EFL Cup final. That brought in £5.1 million. Even so, the net balance for Tottenham is clearly negative: £119.9 million.

We have lived through a period of deception. No type of punishment will make it possible to repair what was done. — Mauricio Pochettino, former Tottenham manager

The EFL Cup final that changed Liverpool's European future

Liverpool also appear among the clubs affected, although through a different route. In the 2015-16 EFL Cup final, Jürgen Klopp's side lost on penalties to Manchester City after a 1-1 draw. That defeat had consequences: the Europa League place attached to the trophy moved to the league and ended up with West Ham United.

Liverpool finished eighth and missed out on Europe. To quantify the potential loss, Manchester United's earnings from winning the Europa League in 2016-17 serve as a benchmark: £37.8 million, of which £26.6 million came from the market pool based on television rights. It is impossible to say Liverpool would have won the tournament, but comparing clubs of similar stature offers a reasonable estimate.

Adding £10.6 million from finishing below City in all nine seasons under review, the total impact for the Merseyside club comes to £48.5 million.

Relegation by one place: Hull, Swansea and Newcastle among the hardest hit

Relegation to the Championship is one of the harshest financial blows a club can suffer. Several teams dropped from 18th place, right on the edge of safety, during the seasons in question. The question is whether the existence of that Manchester City side, built with funds the commission considers irregular, could have altered the survival battle.

To calculate this, the total prize money received by the bottom team from the following season is used, minus the first parachute payment given to relegated clubs. Hull City is the most striking case: they went down twice in the period, costing them £93.78 million. Added to that is £5.2 million from finishing below City in four campaigns, taking their total to £99 million.

Swansea come next with £63.1 million: £54 million from relegation and £9.1 million from league position. Newcastle, relegated in 2015-16, total £60.4 million, of which £7.9 million is from position. Other clubs also suffered relegation from 18th place: Norwich (£43.8 million), Wigan (£39.6 million), Burnley (£31.1 million), Bolton (£26.4 million) and Birmingham (£25.1 million).

Missing the Champions League by one spot: Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal

Alongside Tottenham, other teams narrowly missed out on the Champions League during the eight seasons in which City secured a European place. Chelsea were the hardest hit in absolute terms: they finished fifth in 2017-18, just behind City. The London club earned £79.2 million from reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, while Chelsea collected £39.4 million for winning the Europa League. The deficit was £39.8 million.

Everton, fifth in 2013-14, ran up a difference of £32.6 million, and Arsenal, fifth in 2016-17, £22.1 million. Manchester United were the only big club who barely noticed the effect: City went out in the Champions League round of 16 in 2015-16, and United won the Europa League that same season. The gap was just £4.8 million.

The value of every Premier League place between 2009 and 2018

The Premier League does not award a specific prize pot for being champions. Broadcast revenue is distributed on a merit basis according to final league position. The system works incrementally: the bottom club gets a base payment, 19th place gets double, 18th triple, and so on. That means the financial difference between finishing one place above or below City is exactly one base payment.

The value of each place rose sharply as television deals grew. In 2010-11 each position was worth £755,881. By 2016-17 the figure had reached £1.94 million per spot. If compensation were ever considered, Everton, Liverpool and Stoke City would have the largest claims on this front: £10.7 million each, having finished below City in all nine seasons.

West Bromwich Albion and West Ham would add £9.9 million, with Swansea at £9.1 million. At the other end are clubs who spent just one season in the top flight during the period, such as Blackpool (£756,756), Portsmouth (£800,424) and Huddersfield (£1.93 million).