What happens to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United IF Man City are stripped of Premier League titles? | OneFootball

What happens to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United IF Man City are stripped of Premier League titles? | OneFootball

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Evening Standard

·30 September 2026

What happens to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United IF Man City are stripped of Premier League titles?

Article image:What happens to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United IF Man City are stripped of Premier League titles?

History would be rewritten if Man City’s trophies during a nine-year period were taken away

Manchester City have been found guilty of all the charges brought against them by the Premier League over serious breaches of its financial regulations, prompting a wider discussion around a potential punishment.


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The FFP breaches are related to a period between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, when Man City won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, three League Cups and one Community Shield.

Man City have the right to appeal the independent commission’s findings and have until October 2 to exercise that right.

City insist they will fight the charges “on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe”.

Article image:What happens to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United IF Man City are stripped of Premier League titles?

Manchester City have been found guilty of circumventing Premier League’s rules by disguising funding from their owner as sponsorship

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The Premier League have also said that now the charges have been proved, the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing with the independent commission.

The scenario of Man City being retrospectively stripped of the trophies won during the aforementioned period is the potential punishment that has certainly caught the attention of many Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United supporters on social media.

But what would each club win if they were handed the retrospective titles should Man City be stripped of their eight trophies? Standard Sport takes a look...

Despite the appeals of many Arsenal fans as soon as reports emerged, they would not be awarded a single retrospective Premier League title. This is because the seasons in which they finished runners-up to Man City has not been under investigation.

The Gunners would, however, get a League Cup after being demolished 3-0 by City in the 2017-18 final at Wembley.

Liverpool

The German, however, would be able to celebrate a League Cup after losing 2015-16 final on penalties to a Man City side then managed by Manuel Pellegrini.

Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries. Man United were twice runners-up to Man City in the Premier League during the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, meaning two more league titles would be on their way to Old Trafford.

Former United defender Rio Ferdinand has been vocal about this on X, formerly Twitter, even pushing a case for Jose Mourinho, who has always spoken highly of that second-placed finish in 2017-18.

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