Suppose this is the Premier League Table:
TEAM GD POINTS
--------------------------------------
Team 1 +38 80
Team 2 +32 78
Team 3 +26 72
Team 4 +10 68
Team 5 +9 65
Team 6 +8 65
Team 7 +8 64
Team 8 +7 62
Team 9 +6 58
Team 8 is in the FA cup final against team 9 and team 8 wins the FA cup final.
Team 8 also has to play team 9 in the last game of the league.
If team 9 wins the league match then team 8 will still qualify for the Europa League even though they will finish 8th place.
If team 8 wins and has a big goal difference, they willl-leap frog all the way up to position 5, qualifying directly for the Europa league. This would mean that team 9 would directly qualify for Europa league since team 8 qualified via winning the FA cup final.
So now, it would be better for team 9 in the long run to let team 8 win in the league match by at least 3 goals that way they would have continental qualification for being the runner-ups in the FA cup to a team that already qualified via league position.
Has this ever happened?
TEAM GD POINTS
--------------------------------------
Team 1 +38 80
Team 2 +32 78
Team 3 +26 72
Team 4 +10 68
Team 5 +9 65
Team 6 +8 65
Team 7 +8 64
Team 8 +7 62
Team 9 +6 58
Team 8 is in the FA cup final against team 9 and team 8 wins the FA cup final.
Team 8 also has to play team 9 in the last game of the league.
If team 9 wins the league match then team 8 will still qualify for the Europa League even though they will finish 8th place.
If team 8 wins and has a big goal difference, they willl-leap frog all the way up to position 5, qualifying directly for the Europa league. This would mean that team 9 would directly qualify for Europa league since team 8 qualified via winning the FA cup final.
So now, it would be better for team 9 in the long run to let team 8 win in the league match by at least 3 goals that way they would have continental qualification for being the runner-ups in the FA cup to a team that already qualified via league position.
Has this ever happened?