5 teams stripped of titles after CAF took Senegal’s AFCON crown
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The football world was shocked this week after Senegal were stripped of their African Cup of Nations victory from January, after the CAF deemed that they forfeited the game, and awarded Morocco a 3-0 win.
YEN.com.gh has taken a look at five other occasions where teams were stripped of their titles after the event, and the reasons that caused it.
Elgin City - 1992/93
One of the lesser known teams on this list, Elgin City thought they had cruised to the Highland League title in the 1992/93 season after defeating Forres Mechanics 6-0 on the final day of the campaign.
But the team did it by way of what they thought was a loophole, as they brought the game forward by 24 hours from a Saturday to a Friday night, so that a number of players who were due to serve a suspension would still be available to play.
That included player-manager John Teasdale, and as a result the league stripped them of their Championship. Runners-up Cove Rangers refused to accept the title by default, and so that season went on the record books without a winner.
Elgin City have been locked in an appeals process ever since, with their most recent attempt coming in 2018 to get the players' medals restored, but they're yet to get their way and the history books remain unchanged.
Olympique Marseille - 1992/93
The 1992/93 season went down in history for Marseille as one of the greatest in their history, as they won Ligue 1 and the Champions League. But their domestic crown was ripped from their grasp after it emerged that their owner Bernard Tapie had offered a bribe to opposition players to go easy on his side during the run-in.
Tapie offer 250,000 Francs to Valenciennes stars Christophe Robert, Jorge Burrachaga and Jacques Glassman, but Glassman rejected the offer and reported it to the referee. That saw Marseille relegated to Ligue 2 and stripped of their championship.
Paris Saint-Germain refused to take the title in their place, meaning officially there is no winner for that campaign. Marseille were, however, allowed to keep hold of their Champions League victory, despite further accusations of match-fixing and doping.
Shanghai Shenhua - 2003
Before Shanghai Shenhua used their incredible wealth to convince the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, and Carlos Tevez to take their talents to China, the club were found guilty of using it to bribe referees instead. However, it wasn't discovered until many years later.
In 2011, the club's general manager, Lou Shifang, was outed for paying referees during the 2003 campaign for a crucial Shanghai derby game. Authorities initially didn't strip the club of the title for that offense, but it then emerged that Shifang had also done it for a game against rivals Shaanxi Guoli.
That sparked the Chinese FA into action, and in 2013 the 2003 championship was voided from the record with Shenhua stripped and no alternative winner named.
Genoa - 2004/05
Before Diego Milito made a name for himself with Inter Milan as a treble winner, he was a key man for Genoa in Serie B during the 2004/05 season. The Argentine scored 21 goals that season to help fire the team into Serie A as champions, before it emerged that the club's directors weren't convinced they'd get promoted.
On the final day of the season, with Genoa needing a win to go up, their directors paid Venezia general manager Giuseppe Pagliara €250,000 to throw the game, and then he got caught with the cash in his car!
As a result, the Italian FA immediately relegated Genoa, instead of promoting them, sending them directly to Serie C1, and stripped them of the Serie B title too.
Juventus - 2004/05 and 2005/06
Arguably the most high-profile case in modern football history, Serie A giants Juventus were found guilty of match-fixing by manipulating referees over an extended period of time in the Calciopoli scandal.
Club general manager Luciano Foggi was given a lifetime ban from football as a result, and Juventus were relegated to Serie B, while they saw two league titles stripped from their history.
While they have always denied the charges and still count them on their unofficial tally, Inter Milan were awarded the Scudetto for the 2005/06 season, and the Turin club lost a host of star players as a result.
Source: YEN.com.gh
