So it is now official, Southampton will not feature in Saturday's EFL Championship play-off final at Wembley. On Tuesday, it was announced that the Saints had been expelled from the competition following spy-gate, a decision upheld on Wednesday following an appeal.
Southampton will also start next season on -4 points after intern William Salt was caught spying on Middlesbrough training at Rockliffe Park ahead of their semi-final tie. The club have also admitted to spying on Ipswich and Oxford United earlier in the campaign. This is widely regarded as one of the biggest sporting sanctions ever handed out to any club in history, denying the Saints a shot at Premier League promotion, which would be worth £200 million. Instead, Boro have been reinstated, controversially so, set to take on Hull this weekend.
So, what are some other reasons why teams have been expelled or disqualified from competitions, and where does spygate rank in terms of uniqueness?
Ineligable player
The most common reason a club is kicked out of a tournament would be for fielding an ineligible player. In this season's EFL Trophy, during Swindon Town's 2-1 victory at Kenilworth Road, the Robins fielded two players they were not supposed to, namely Aaron Drinan and Oliver Clarke. This is noteworthy because it saw Luton put back into a competition they went on to win at Wembley.
Other notable examples include Real Madrid being booted out of the Copa del Rey after Denis Cheryshev started and scored a victory at Cádiz, but should not have done as he was suspended due to yellow card accumulating the previous year. In 2014 Champions League qualifying, Legia Warsaw beat Celtic 6-1 on aggregate, but it later transpired that Bartosz Bereszyński had come on as a substitute at Murrayfield, despite being banned, which gave Celtic a 3-0 second leg win, progressing on away goals.
There are though far more interesting or bizarre reasons than just botched paperwork.
Fielding overage players in youth tournaments
This summer, World Cup co-hosts Mexico will feature at a ninth successive edition, having not missed one since 1990 when they were banned. That's because, the Cachirules scandel led all FEMEXFUT teams to be banned from FIFA tournaments for two years. It was discovered that the Mexican federation had knowingly deployed at least four overage players during the 1988 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament, qualification for the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship. They were expelled from that competition, the 1988 Olympics in South Korea and the World Cup itself in Italy.
Fogueteira do Maracanã
This incident is a little more confusing, but is worth sticking with us for. It is the final round of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying for Italia '90 at the Maracanã and Chile need just a draw to book their spot, while Brazil simply must win. As one might expect, Careca puts the Seleção in front just after half time, and then here is where it turns crazy.
In the 67th minute, Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas is down and bleeding in his penalty area, having seemingly been hit by a flare. The Chile team refuse to continue, leaving referee Juan Carlos Loustau no choice but to abandon the match. The following day, it transpires that the flare had not hit Rojas at all, instead landing a metre away. Following an investigation, it turned out that the goalkeeper had concealed a razor blade inside his glove and faked the attack, attempting to have the match abandoned. Brazil were awarded a walkover and Chile were banned from entering USA '94 too.
Others one could add to his list include Yugoslavia being expelled from Euro '92, following the outbreak of a civil war, which famously led to Denmark taking their place and winning the entire thing. Meantime, just last summer, Crystal Palace were denied entry into the Europa League due to multi-club ownership rules, with Nottingham Forest taking the place instead. This might though all work out for the Eagles in the end, if they're able to win next Wednesday's Conference League Final.
Match fixing is another major area, including Juventus being relegated to Serie B following Calciopoli two decades ago. Financial mismanagement is common too, with AC Milan, Juventus, Fenerbahçe Beşiktaş and Galatasaray among many denied entry in UEFA competition after failing FFP regulations.
Lastly, in the most similar comparison to Southampton, two seasons ago, Gateshead were excluded from the National League play-offs because their stadium does not meet the EFL's ground ownership requirements. In summary though, the Saints being denied a shot at Premier League promotion because an intern stood behind a tree at Rockcliffe Hall golf course might just be the weirdest reason for a team being banned from playing a game we've ever seen.
Add us as a preferred source on Google