Everton finished one place outside European qualification four times during the nine seasons in which Manchester City have been found guilty of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules.
The remarkable statistic has been highlighted by Men in Blazers, who noted that no club missed out on European football immediately behind City more often during the period covered by the findings. For Everton, it adds another dimension to a verdict already being examined for its potential consequences across English football.
Everton’s European near-misses highlighted
Research reported by The i Paper found that Everton finished one place outside European qualification on four occasions during the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18. The Blues also finished one place outside the Champions League places in 2013/14, when Roberto Martinez’s side collected a club-record 72 Premier League points but finished fifth. City won the title that season.
One of the European near-misses came in 2009/10. City finished fifth, and Everton eighth, but the distribution of Europa League places meant the Blues were the next side outside European qualification. The numbers provide striking context, but they don’t establish that Everton would automatically have qualified for Europe had City’s financial breaches not occurred.
In the seasons where Man City have been found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules, no team missed out on European football at their expense more often than Everton 😳 pic.twitter.com/ttxNRlCEWc
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) September 30, 2026
Removing City retrospectively would raise complicated questions around league results, qualification rules and domestic cup places. There is also no guarantee that historical league tables would simply be moved up by one position.
The independent commission found City guilty of all charges relating to serious financial breaches between 2009/10 and 2017/18. City deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal. For Everton, though, the figures underline just how often their own push for Europe overlapped with the period now covered by the commission’s findings.
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