Spurs should be awarded 2016-17 title after Chelsea broke rules, says Pochettino

Sept 10 : Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea should be stripped of their 2016-17 Premier League title and it should be handed to his former Tottenham Hotspur side following the Blues' record fine for rule breaches earlier this year.

Chelsea were fined a record total of £10.75 million ($14.56 million) in March for historical breaches of the Premier League's regulations after voluntarily reporting in 2022 that they had evidence of a potential breach of the rules relating to third-party payments and financial reporting.

The Premier League established that between 2011 and 2018, undisclosed illicit payments by third parties associated with Chelsea were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties.

Spurs, who last won the top-flight title in 1961, finished with 86 points when Pochettino was in charge in 2016-17 - a record for the club.

"We should win one Premier League, we should have been awarded it," said Argentine Pochettino, who now manages the U.S. national team.

"If that (Chelsea breaking rules) was true, then we deserve to be champions that year, for sure. They were punished, they admitted it? So that's it. The title should be for the team that was second.

"We can say that they scored goals, they won games. But it's completely fair to say that we didn't compete before the start of the season with the same card.

"Maybe with the same rules, we could have signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals."

Reuters has contacted Chelsea for comment.

Chelsea, who were managed by Antonio Conte, won the title with 93 points that season, largely thanks to 16 goals and five assists from Eden Hazard - one of seven players signed using payments made to unregistered agents.

"I have no doubt and