Chelsea have been hit with a 10.75 million pounds ($14.27 million) fine and a suspended one-year transfer ban for historical breaches of Premier League rules, the league confirmed Monday.
The club avoided a points deduction after self-reporting undisclosed payments exceeding 47 million pounds made under former owner Roman Abramovich.
The sanctions stem from information provided by the consortium led by American businessman Todd Boehly following their 2022 takeover of Chelsea from Abramovich.
The Premier League determined that between 2011 and 2018, third-party payments linked to Abramovich were made to players, unregistered agents, and other club-connected individuals, helping facilitate transfers for stars including Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o and Willian.
The league said the payments, totaling 47,524,925.74 pounds, were made with the “knowledge and approval” of senior former Chelsea officials and were not properly disclosed.
However, the league determined that even if the payments had been properly included in historical financial submissions, the club would not have been in breach of the profitability and sustainability rules, or PSR.
Officials said Chelsea's “proactive self-reporting, admissions of breach and exceptional cooperation” were mitigating circumstances in deciding the severity of the punishments imposed on the west London club.
More than 23 million pounds was paid to seven unregistered agents, or entities associated with them, in connection with the transfers of seven players to the club. Five of the seven were named in the sanction agreement: Hazard, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
Payments of more than 19 million pounds were made to facilitate the transfers of Willian and Eto’o to Chelsea from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala in 2013, the sanction agreement revealed.
Chelsea have also been charged by the Football Association with 74 alleged breaches of the English governing body’s rules, also connected to information shared by the Blues’ new owners.
The club is expecting a financial, rather than sporting, sanction for those charges because of the level of cooperation their new owners have shown with the FA’s investigation.
Responding to Monday’s announcement, the club issued a statement saying, “Chelsea Football Club is pleased to confirm that the club has reached a settlement with the Premier League in relation to historical regulatory matters that were self-reported by the club in 2022.”
The Blues also said they welcomed the Premier League’s recognition of their “exceptional cooperation” and that “without those voluntary disclosures and the act of self-reporting, a number of the Premier League rule breaches may never have come to the attention of the league.”
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior said the sanctions were not a “negative distraction.”
“I think actually that’s a line drawn through that issue, and we can move on and plan to make this club as strong as possible in the long term,” he said at a press conference ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain.
