The Premier League announced on Monday that Chelsea had been fined a total of 10.75 million pounds (about $14.3 million) and given a one-year suspension from player signings for breaching financial rules during Roman Abramovich’s reign.
The sanctions agreement was reached after Chelsea self-reported possible breaches to the Football Association, which were brought to light in 2022 by a consortium led by US investors Todd Boley and Clearlake Capital. buy out abramović For 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion).
The Premier League said the rules related to “financial reporting, third party investment and youth development”.
“The league has discovered that from 2011 to 2018, undisclosed payments were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties by third parties associated with the club,” the league said in a statement.
“These payments were not disclosed to football regulators, including the Premier League, at the time.”
According to the sanctions agreement, payments to unregistered agents totaled more than 23 million pounds ($30 million) and were related to the contracts of players including Eden Hazard, David Luiz, Ramires, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
The statement said the undisclosed payments were “made in the interest of Chelsea and should have been treated as having been made by the club”.
These actions “violated the requirement to act in good faith toward the league,” the tournament said.
Chelsea accepted the fine, which was confirmed by an independent panel, which imposed an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and a one-year transfer ban for first-team players.
However, no point deductions were applied.
The club said it was “satisfied” with the settlement with the Premier League.
Chelsea said in a statement: “From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness and cooperated fully with all relevant regulatory authorities.”
The league noted that Chelsea’s “active self-reporting, admission of violations, and exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation served as important mitigating factors” and helped reduce the fine by approximately 50%.
It also said it was satisfied that if the amounts paid had been properly included in the club’s accounts, Chelsea would not have breached the league’s profitability and sustainability regulations “in any scenario” during that period.
There were other financial sanctions against Chelsea.
Chelsea’s new owners have been fined multiple times by UEFA for financial violations.
In 2023, the first year of the new regime, Chelsea paid a fine of 10 million euros ($11.8 million at the time) to UEFA to resolve misconduct committed while the club was owned by Abramovich, who was forced to sell the club following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. That was also a self-report by the club.
last year, Chelsea fined A penalty of 20 million euros ($23.6 million at the time) will be imposed if the club fails to break even, and a further 11 million euros ($13 million) if it spends more than 80% of the set revenue limit on so-called “team costs” such as transfer fees and wages.
Another disciplinary procedure carried out by the Football Association is ongoing, this one relating to the same offense for which Chelsea were punished by the Premier League.
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