Chelsea were fined £2.58 million and suspended for £1.72 million by UEFA for breaching UEFA’s team cost ratio rules.
Chelsea said in an official statement: “Chelsea FC can confirm that the UEFA club monitoring process for the 2025/26 season has been concluded and UEFA has today published the results regarding the club’s compliance with the team cost ratio for the 2025 calendar year.”
“Following a proactive and transparent engagement with UEFA, the UEFA Club Financial Control Board (CFCB) has recognized an improving trend in clubs’ player fee ratios for the 2025 calendar year.
“However, we narrowly exceeded UEFA’s player cost ratio threshold of 70% and will therefore be subject to a fine.”
UEFA regulations state that a club’s player cost ratio cannot exceed 70 percent of its turnover.
All clubs that exceeded that threshold received a fine calculated pro rata based on the extent to which they exceeded the limit and the size of their team cost surplus.
Chelsea are not the only Premier League club facing sanctions, with Aston Villa (conditional £19.38m) and Newcastle United (£2.58m) also facing sanctions.
Villa are also subject to restrictions when registering new players to their ‘A’ list for the 2026/27 season.
This is not the first time Chelsea and Villa have breached the regulations.
Last year, the Blues were slapped with a £26.7m penalty and could face a further £51.2m if they fail to comply within the next four years.
Regarding this year’s sanctions, UEFA confirmed on its official website: “With regard to Aston Villa FC and Chelsea FC, which had already been subject to sanctions in the previous season, the CFCB First Chamber of Commerce took into account the improving trend in team cost ratios from 2024 to 2025, in line with the projections submitted as part of the settlement agreement.”
“As a result, part of the fine is conditional on the club continuing to significantly reduce its team cost ratio in 2026.”
Strasbourg, also owned by BlueCo, were handed a conditional fine of £10.3m, with a £21.5m fine and restrictions on new player registrations.
“For RC Strasbourg, the portion of the fine over and above the prize money won by the club in UEFA competitions will be conditional on the club being able to significantly reduce its team cost ratio in 2026,” UEFA said in an update on Strasbourg.
Chelsea will not take part in any UEFA competition next season after their disastrous defeat in the Premier League. The Blues finished the 2025/26 season in 10th place in the Premier League table.
