Calciopoli to Spygate – Previous heavy penalties to scare City fans
· Yahoo Sports
Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18 by an independent commission.
Visit tr-sport.bond for more information.
With the issue of sanctions being addressed separately in a further hearing, the Press Association recalls some of the heaviest penalties handed out in the history of sport.
CALCIOPOLI
Juventus were relegated to Serie B - Italian football's second tier - and docked nine points after senior club officials were implicated in attempts to influence referees.
They were also stripped of the 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles with points deductions also handed to AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina.
SPYGATE
Formula One team McLaren were fined $100 million and thrown out of the constructors’ championship after almost 800 pages of confidential information concerning Ferrari’s 2007 car was passed by a Ferrari employee, Nigel Stepney, to a friend at McLaren – their chief designer Mike Coughlan.
The plan fell apart when Coughlan’s wife took the documents to a local photocopying shop and the owner, a Ferrari fan, smelt a rat and reported it to the Italian team.
DURHAM
The English county cricket club were docked 48 points – relegating them to the Second Division – by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2016 after getting into financial difficulties, in part through spending on ground upgrades to secure international matches.
They were also given points deductions from limited-overs competitions and stripped of Test ground status as the harsh costs of a £3.8 million ($5 million) ECB bailout.
SARACENS
The club had won four consecutive English Premiership rugby union titles when they were hit with a 35-point deduction and a fine of more than £5 million in November 2019 for breaching the league’s salary cap rules.
The deduction left them bottom of the league and in early 2020 Premiership Rugby confirmed the club would be relegated to the second tier for the 2020-21 season because of their inability to bring their wage bill within the limits set.
MANCHESTER CITY
In 1906 the FA found City guilty of “systematically” breaking its rules around payments to players, designed to ensure a level playing field.
Seventeen players – rather than the club themselves – were the ones sanctioned, with two club directors also banned for life and two others for a year.
SPYGATE 2
Southampton were kicked out of the play-offs to the English Premier League in May 2026 – and denied a shot at a minimum £200 million over three seasons from promotion – after admitting to three spying charges, including one related to play-off opponents Middlesbrough.
The club were also docked four points for the start of the 2026-27 season.