Man City face £355m FFP setback as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham 'could get' prize money

Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham could all be set for an extraordinary amount of compensation in the form of Premier League prize money from their rivals Manchester City if the reigning champions are found guilty of breaching the Financial Fair Play regulations.

City, who are currently under investigation and facing 115 charges around the breaching of financial rules, were thrown out of the Champions League for two years back in 2018 after being found guilty of breaching regulations but that decision was eventually overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the club vehemently denies any wrongdoing.

However, following Everton and Nottingham Forest's points deductions earlier on in the season, both supporters and those in the media have called out the Premier League for its seemingly-lethargic approach at trying to solve the case around Pep Guardiola's side but the case is finally set to be heard later this year as league executive Richard Masters confirmed that a date has been set.

In a trial that will surround the club in issues such as reporting inaccurate financial figures, use of related parties, and unaccounted managerial remunerations, it could be a huge turning point in the history of the sport, let alone English football. Of course, in such an unprecedented case, it's unclear what type of punishments the Citizens might face but there could be a significant amount of prize money they could owe other clubs if found guilty.

With the club under investigation for its alleged involvement in such acts across 10 years between 2008/09 and 2018/19 seasons, the estimation of potential compensation is based on central payments distributed to Premier League clubs over a specified period between 2011/12 and 2022/23, with the estimation being made by a group of data scientists at Best Payout Online Slots.

These central payments are divided into six categories: Equal Share, International Equal Share, International Merit Payment, Central Commercial, Facility Fees and Merit Payment, the latter two of which are based on the number of televised matches and final league standings respectively whilst the former four are distributed evenly amongst all Premier League clubs.

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By using data from official Premier League sources and news sites, and by removing Man City from the standings and therefore adjusting the position of each club in each given season, new Merit Payments were calculated, with the difference between the original and the adjusted Merit Payment used as the estimation for the amount of compensation each club would receive.

As for the amount of original Merit Payment money each club involved received, Manchester City received the most of the 37 different teams in the Premier League throughout that time with £375,443,928, while Arsenal received the fourth-most behind Liverpool and Manchester United earning £319,527,718. Tottenham Hotspur earnt the fifth-most with £311,956,590 while local rivals Chelsea earnt the sixth-most with £308,230,008 but all three clubs would've earnt considerably more with Man City out of the picture.

With City excluded from the original Merit Payments, Arsenal would've received £18,090,352 more, while Chelsea and Tottenham would've earnt £16,176,250 and £16,128,743 more respectively, adding up to just over £50 million across all three clubs. With each club's adjusted Merit Payments added up, it's estimated Man City could owe other clubs around equals a total of £355.9m in prize money compensation if they were to be found guilty of breaching FFP rules.

It's unlikely that if they are found guilty, they'll only be hit with a financial penalty, with punishments such as the stripping of any Premier League titles won within that time span also on the cards in such an unprecedented case.