Pochettino calls for Tottenham to be awarded 2016-17 Premier League title after Chelsea sanction

Mauricio Pochettino has publicly called for Tottenham to be recognised as champions of the 2016-17 Premier League. The current United States head coach argues that Chelsea should not keep that title after the London club admitted to financial irregularities involving secret payments to agents during the period in which they won the league under Antonio Conte.

• Chelsea paid a £10.75m fine and admitted to £47m in secret payments to agents between 2011 and 2018.
• Pochettino's Tottenham finished second in 2016-17, seven points behind Chelsea.
• The Argentine says the two teams did not compete under the same rules from the start of the season.
• He managed Spurs between 2014 and 2019 without winning a trophy, with that second-place finish as his best league result.

The Chelsea sanction that has reopened the 2016-17 Premier League debate

Chelsea were fined £10.75m in March after being charged by the Premier League for historical breaches of competition rules. The club, owned by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, self-reported 74 breaches of Football Association regulations when the ownership group purchased the club in 2022.

The Blues admitted making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties across transfer dealings between 2011 and 2018. A six-point deduction was also set aside on appeal, meaning it was never applied.

What Pochettino is demanding for Tottenham

We should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it. If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team.

Pochettino, who managed Tottenham from 2014 to 2019, believes the financial penalty does not make up for the sporting damage his squad suffered. The Argentine argues that his team fought for the championship at a disadvantage and that, with the same ability to sign players, the outcome could have been different.

That Tottenham side collected 86 points, a total that would have been enough to win the title in many seasons, but they finished seven adrift of a Chelsea team inspired by Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and N'Golo Kanté.

The 2016-17 FA Cup semi-final, another painful encounter

The rivalry between the two clubs that season was not limited to the league. Chelsea also knocked Tottenham out of the FA Cup semi-finals with a 4-2 victory, a result that ended any hope of a domestic double and reinforced the feeling that Pochettino's team kept falling just short of glory.

Pochettino's career after leaving Tottenham

The coach from Santa Fe led Tottenham to the 2019 Champions League final, which they lost to Liverpool in Madrid. It was the high point of a five-year spell in north London in which the club grew consistently but failed to lift a single trophy.

A message aimed at Stamford Bridge

Pochettino makes no secret that his comments may upset Chelsea supporters, having occupied the Stamford Bridge dugout himself during the 2023-24 season. Still, he insists his stance is rooted in sporting fairness rather than a personal grudge against the west London club.

The United States head coach stresses that if the situation had been reversed and Tottenham had broken the rules, he would argue for the same standard to be applied. The controversy reignites the debate over what sporting consequences financial rule breaches should carry in English football.