Pochettino Says Tottenham Were Robbed of 2016-17 Premier League Title by Chelsea Rule Breaches
Mauricio Pochettino believes the Premier League should have stripped Chelsea of their 2016-17 title and handed it to Tottenham Hotspur, the side he managed that season.
Reporting across BBC Sport, The Guardian and ESPN confirms the Argentine made the comments as part of a wide-ranging interview, saying flatly that Spurs deserved to be champions that year.
Antonio Conte's Chelsea finished seven points clear of Pochettino's Tottenham in 2016-17. It wasn't close. Spurs accumulated a then-club record 86 points that campaign.
Chelsea have since admitted to 74 breaches of Football Association rules, self-reported by the BlueCo ownership group when it purchased the club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.
What Chelsea Admitted and How They Were Punished
The Blues were fined £10.75 million by the Premier League in March 2026, having already received a £10 million FA fine and a suspended two-window transfer ban in July, as reported by The Guardian.
The breaches covered illicit payments totalling £47 million to unregistered agents and third parties across transfers between 2011 and 2018.
Among the deals found to have broken the rules were those that brought Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic to Stamford Bridge. Hazard was central to Chelsea's title-winning campaign, scoring 16 Premier League goals that season.
A six-point deduction initially imposed was later set aside on appeal.
Pochettino's Case for Retrospective Justice
Speaking to multiple outlets including The Guardian and The Independent, Pochettino argued that the punishments handed down fell well short of what the situation demanded. Spurs never had a chance.
Chelsea had been able to build their squad through rule-breaking transfer activity, meaning Tottenham were not competing on equal terms before a ball had even been kicked that season.
Pochettino was direct about what he believed should have followed. Tottenham deserved to be named champions for that year, he said, and a club admitting rule breaches should face the full consequence, not retain the trophy.
He dismissed the suggestion this was sour grapes, saying he would hold the same position had it been Spurs found guilty.
He also addressed the specific question of whether Hazard made the decisive difference that campaign, conceding that possibility, while stressing his criticism was aimed at the structural unfairness rather than at Conte's coaching ability.
He told interviewers he had no desire to diminish what Conte achieved on the pitch.
The Broader Principle Pochettino Raised
The Guardian's coverage captured the core of his argument plainly. Pochettino compared the situation to teams playing under different versions of the rules, whether on offside or VAR, and said football cannot produce fair results when that is the case.
Failing to strip titles, he argued, creates an incentive to cheat.
Pochettino managed Tottenham from 2014 to 2019, guiding them to the 2019 Champions League final without winning a trophy. He went on to manage Chelsea in the 2023-24 season before taking charge of the United States national team.
Between 2009 and 2022, Chelsea won three league titles, two Champions Leagues and further major honours during the period covered by the admitted breaches.