LONDON — U.S. men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said Chelsea should be stripped of the 2016-17 Premier League title and the trophy awarded to the Tottenham Hotspur team he coached to second place that season.
Pochettino spoke with British media earlier this week, and the PA news agency carried his comments Thursday. He said Chelsea scored goals and won games in 2016-17, but “we didn’t compete before the start of the season with the same card.”
“We should have been awarded it,” Pochettino said. “If that 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.”
Chelsea clinched the 2016-17 title on May 12, 2017, with a 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion and two matches to spare. That was the first season in England for Chelsea coach Antonio Conte. Chelsea finished with 93 points. It was the first team to win 30 games in a Premier League season.
Tottenham lost four league matches and finished second with 86 points. It scored 86 goals, the most in the league. It allowed 26, the fewest. Harry Kane won the Golden Boot with 29 goals.
Tottenham did not win a trophy under Pochettino. Under the same rules, he said, the club might have signed players who improved the squad or added goals.
“It’s not me complaining. It’s the truth,” Pochettino said.
If Tottenham had been the club that broke the rules, Pochettino would admit the same. He said Conte was great and that he did not want his message twisted.
“The Chelsea fans will be upset with me because I’m saying this,” Pochettino said.
Premier League And FA Sanctions Against Chelsea
On July 31, the Football Association announced a fine of 10 million pounds ($13.4 million) and a suspended two-window transfer ban against Chelsea. The club had admitted to 74 breaches of FA Rule E1.2 before a hearing. Those breaches covered FA regulations on agents, working with intermediaries, and third-party investment in players.
An independent Regulatory Commission first imposed a six-point deduction, suspended until June 30, 2027, along with the fine. Chelsea appealed the points penalty. An independent Appeal Board set it aside and replaced it with a registration ban for two straight transfer windows, also suspended until June 30, 2027.
The 10 million pound fine was not part of the appeal, and the FA said all of it will go to grassroots football. The FA first charged Chelsea in September 2025, and its July 31 announcement said it “is continuing to investigate individual misconduct arising out of this case.”
Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital reported the breaches themselves in May 2022. Their purchase of Chelsea from Roman Abramovich was still being completed at the time.
The Premier League closed its own case on March 16. Under two sanction agreements, Chelsea accepted fines totaling 10.75 million pounds, with no points deduction, for breaking league rules on financial reporting, third-party investment, and youth development. Chelsea’s academy was hit with a nine-month transfer ban that took effect right away. A one-year ban on first-team signings was suspended for two years.
The Premier League found that undisclosed payments by third parties connected to the club were made to players, unregistered agents, and others between 2011 and 2018. The payments totaled more than 47 million pounds. More than 23 million pounds went to seven unregistered agents, or entities tied to them, in connection with seven transfers. The sanction agreement named five of those players, including Eden Hazard. Hazard scored 16 league goals for Chelsea in 2016-17.
Payments of more than 19 million pounds were made to facilitate the 2013 transfers of Willian and Samuel Eto’o to Chelsea from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. Willian stayed with Chelsea through 2020.
The league said Chelsea would not have breached its Profitability and Sustainability Rules in any scenario had the payments been included in the club’s historical financial submissions. The league counted Chelsea’s self-reporting, its admissions, and its cooperation in the club’s favor. Chelsea said in March that it “proactively disclosed many thousands of documents” over the course of the investigation.
Mauricio Pochettino Coached Both Clubs Before Taking U.S. Job
Pochettino coached Tottenham from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, he led the club to the Champions League final, a 2-0 loss to Liverpool in Madrid. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy fired him five months later.
Tottenham’s majority owners, the Lewis family, invited Levy to step down in September 2025. The club avoided relegation on the final day of the 2025-26 season. Pochettino said it had been tough for Levy after 25 years building the club.
“Now he knows the feeling,” Pochettino said.
At Chelsea, Pochettino’s team finished sixth in 2023-24 and did not qualify for the Champions League. He left by mutual consent in May 2024. U.S. Soccer named him head coach on Sept. 10, 2024, two years to the day before Thursday’s interviews were published.
The United States won its group at the 2026 World Cup. On July 1, it beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in the round of 32 for the program’s first knockout-stage win since 2002. Belgium eliminated the Americans 4-1 in the round of 16 five days later.
On Aug. 3, U.S. Soccer announced a new contract that keeps Pochettino as coach through the 2030 World Cup. His first matches under it are four home friendlies.
When U.S. Soccer announced that schedule Aug. 4, Pochettino said he always wants the strongest opponents available.
“We expect our players to compete with the mentality that every game is critical,” Pochettino said.
Peru comes first on Sept. 26 at Inter.co Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. CT on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, Telemundo, Universo, and Peacock. Chile, Mexico, and Canada follow on Sept. 29, Oct. 3, and Oct. 6.
