How much did Manchester City's 'sham contracts' cost other English top‑flight clubs?
BBC Sport writers Dale Johnson, Dan Roan, Laura Scott and Sami Mokbel have analysed how Manchester City's use of so‑called "sham contracts" between 2009 and 2018 affected the finances of other English top‑flight clubs in an article published on 13 October 2026.
An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of inflating their sponsorship income by £830m and of a further £90m in expenses; the club denies any wrongdoing and has appealed. The analysis places the club’s rise in the context of Sheikh Mansour’s 2008 takeover, noting that City moved from sponsorship revenues comparable with Stoke City in 2008-09 to figures that eventually overtook Manchester United, and that after finishing fifth in 2009-10 they never again finished outside the Premier League top four. The commission described the funding as a "disguised funding scheme," and BBC Sport set out to quantify the domestic financial effects on other clubs.
BBC Sport calculated a total potential impact of £844m on other clubs, broken down as £188.2m in Premier League placing money, £217.8m in missed Champions League prize money and £88.3m related to domestic cup competitions and the Europa League. The figures were derived from published prize money for the relevant seasons: for Premier League placing money each team that finished below City is considered to have potentially missed a payment for one place; for relegation the calculation uses the minimum value of being in the Premier League the following season minus the received parachute payment; for Champions League impact BBC Sport took City's earnings in the following seasons and deducted the affected teams' Europa League prize money.
Across the same period Manchester City were paid a total of £1.17bn in competition earnings: £812.3m from the Premier League (prize money and broadcast revenues), £363.4m from the Champions League, £900,000 from the FA Cup victory and £300,000 from three EFL Cup wins. Reflecting on the verdict, former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino said last month: "We have lived through a period of deception. No type of punishment will make it possible to repair what was done." Spurs finished one place outside the Champions League positions in four (although one only was under Pochettino) of the eight seasons in which City qualified for Europe's elite competition.
Over the four seasons Tottenham missed out on the Champions League, Manchester City earned £148.2m from the competition while Tottenham took £29.9m from the Europa League. The 2014-15 season produced the largest single-season Champions League gap: City received £71.2m for reaching the Champions League semi-finals the following season while Spurs were paid £17.7m from the Europa League, a difference of £53.5m. Spurs also finished behind City in the Premier League table six times, a cumulative prize-money difference of £6.6m, and benefitted in 2013-14 from City beating Sunderland in the EFL Cup final, which BBC Sport values as Spurs gaining £5.1m from their 2014-15 Europa League campaign; taking all competitions into account produces a net financial loss for Spurs of £119.9m.
Liverpool's narrow miss on European qualification hinged on the 2015-16 EFL Cup final, which they lost to City on penalties after a 1-1 draw; Liverpool finished eighth that season and did not qualify for Europe. Manchester United's 2016-17 Europa League victory earned them £37.8m, including a market pool payment of £26.6m, figures BBC Sport used as a comparator when assessing what Liverpool might have earned. Combined with Premier League place money of £10.6m—Liverpool finished below City in all nine relevant seasons—BBC Sport calculates a total financial impact on Liverpool of £52.3m.
In the FA Cup period under scrutiny City won the competition once, beating Stoke in 2010-11; the difference in prize money for that result was £900,000 and the runners-up entered the Europa League. Everton, meanwhile, missed out on the Champions League once in 2013-14 and finished one place below the final Europa League spot on four other occasions. BBC Sport calculates a Champions League place value of £32.6m as the £39m earned by Manchester City minus the £6.4m Everton received from the Europa League; the combined impact of Everton missing out on the Europa League four times is £23.2m and, with £10.6m in Premier League prize-money differences, the total effect on Everton is assessed at £66.4m, making them the third‑most impacted club.
Relegation effects were also modelled. BBC Sport notes City took at least four points off every team that finished 18th during the period other than Birmingham and used the following-season prize money for the team finishing 20th minus the first season parachute payment to estimate a minimum financial return from staying up. Hull City—relegated twice in the period—are calculated to have lost £93.78m from relegations and earned a further £5.2m from finishing below City in four seasons, putting their total impact at £99m and ranking them as the second‑most affected club. Other estimated relegation impacts include Swansea £63.1m (£54m from relegation and £9.1m in place money), Newcastle £60.4m (including £7.9m in place money), Norwich £43.8m, Wigan £39.6m, Burnley £31.1m, Bolton £26.4m and Birmingham £25.1m.
Several clubs narrowly missing Champions League qualification also show sizable shortfalls in the analysis. Chelsea, finishing fifth in 2017-18, are assigned a deficit of £39.8m after comparing City's £79.2m for reaching the Champions League quarter-finals with Chelsea's £39.4m from winning the Europa League. Everton (5th in 2013-14) are shown with a £32.6m deficit and Arsenal (5th in 2016-17) a £22.1m deficit. Manchester United, fifth in 2015-16, are shown with a £4.8m deficit after City earned £42.6m from a round-of-16 Champions League exit while United won the Europa League and received £37.8m.
BBC Sport also set out how Premier League broadcast revenue is allocated on a merit basis under a 1+1 system—teams receive the base payment once for 20th place, twice for 19th, three times for 18th and so on—and notes the value of a place rose from £755,881 in 2010-11 to £1.94m in 2016-17. Using those figures, the analysis suggests Everton, Liverpool and Stoke City would have the largest single‑claim totals of £10.7m for finishing below City in all nine seasons; West Brom and West Ham are shown with £9.9m, Swansea £9.1m, and one‑season Premier League clubs such as Blackpool £756,756, Portsmouth £800,424 and Huddersfield £1.93m are listed at the lower end.
Manchester City continue to deny any wrongdoing and have confirmed they will appeal the verdict; the financial calculations published by BBC Sport sit alongside that pending appeal.
