Following Manchester City being found guilty of 115 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, questions have been raised over whether their silverware from that period could be stripped.
During that time, City won three Premier League titles and several domestic cups, establishing themselves as one of English football's dominant forces. Since 2018, they have continued to dominate, investing heavily and adding a first Champions League title to their honours.
Although a case of this scale is unprecedented in the Premier League, several clubs have had titles stripped for a variety of reasons, ranging from bribery to simply changing the date of a match.
With that in mind, let's look at some of the most notable examples from around the world.
Senegal (2026)
Beginning with one that is still fresh in many minds, Senegal were controversially stripped of their AFCON title earlier this year after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ruled that they had forfeited the final.
After initially refusing to continue following questionable VAR decisions, Senegal eventually returned to the field and went on to win the final in extra time. They celebrated the dramatic victory as normal, only for CAF to award the title to runners-up Morocco six weeks later.
However, the matter is not yet settled, with Senegal appealing the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with the next hearing scheduled for October 8.
Juventus (2004-05 & 2005-06)
In the scandal dubbed 'Calciopoli', or roughly translated as 'football bribery', Italian football was rocked in the mid-2000s, with clubs including AC Milan and Fiorentina found to be involved in referee corruption. However, Juventus were the biggest offenders and faced huge consequences as a result.
Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi was found guilty of influencing referee appointments on multiple occasions during the Calciopoli scandal.
As a result, the club were stripped of their two most recent Serie A titles, with the 2005-06 Scudetto later awarded to Inter and the previous title left unassigned.
Moggi was also handed a lengthy ban from football, but Juve still to this day deny the charges, and list the titles as regular honours in their own history.
The consequences for the Old Lady went further, with the club relegated to Serie B and starting the 2006-07 season with a 30-point deduction, later reduced to 17 points on appeal. Despite the punishment, Juventus still won the Serie B title and secured an immediate return to the Italian top flight.
Marseille (1992-93)
Marseille enjoyed a remarkable 1992-93 season, winning both Ligue 1 and the Champions League, but their domestic title was later stripped following a bribery scandal involving a crucial late-season match against Valenciennes, days before the UCL final.
Marseille president Bernard Tapie was implicated in arranging a bribe involving Valenciennes ahead of the match. After Marseille won, the player who refused, Jacques Glassmann, reported the approach to the referee, sparking an investigation.
Marseille were relegated to Ligue 2 for the 1994-95 season, yet they kept their UCL title despite further match-fixing and doping allegations and still are recognised as European champions for that campaign.
PSG, who finished second, were not awarded the vacant Ligue 1 title, with reports suggesting their owners, Canal+, feared it could hurt television revenue in the Marseille region.
Genoa (2004-05)
Returning to Italian football in the mid-2000s, Genoa were stripped of the Serie B title and promotion to Serie A following a bribery scandal involving club officials.
Genoa entered the final game top of the table against already-relegated Venezia, but their directors were found to have paid Venezia general manager Giuseppe Pagliara €250,000 in connection with the match. Genoa still only won 3-2.
An investigation was launched days later after intercepted phone calls, with Italian police stopping and searching Pagliara's car and humorously finding the €250,000 payment inside, minutes after receiving it from Genoa's offices.
Genoa were eventually relegated to Serie C1 despite winning the game. Promotion rivals Torino were funnily enough also reportedly accused of offering Venezia a bonus to play well, while Torino themselves were later denied promotion due to financial problems, allowing Treviso and Ascoli to move up instead.
Elgin City (1992-93)
A bizarre and relatively unknown case came in the Scottish Highland League in 1992-93, when Elgin City won the title after beating Forres Mechanics 6-0 on the final day.
However, Elgin had moved the fixture from Saturday to Friday evening, allowing several suspended players to feature, including player-manager John Teasdale. Teasdale denied it was intentional, calling it an unfortunate mistake.
Elgin were stripped of the title, but second-placed Cove Rangers refused to accept it, leaving the Highland League without a recognised champion. Elgin appealed again in 2018 to have their 1993 honours restored, but were unsuccessful.
Shanghai Shenhua (2003)
Shanghai Shenhua later became known for signing global stars such as Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Carlos Tevez. However, in 2013, the club were found guilty of bribery dating back to 2003 and stripped of that season's Jia-A League title.
During a derby against Shanghai rivals, Shenhua officials were found to have paid 700,000 yuan in total to a referee and Chinese Football Association official to influence the result, which ended 4-1 to Shenhua. A national investigation years later led to the CFA revisiting the case.
The punishment extended beyond their history, with Shenhua fined one million yuan and deducted six points from their 2013 season.
Several officials and club representatives were also fined, with some receiving prison sentences, but corruption issues are still rife in the Chinese football unfortunately.
