Chelsea have been fined £10million ($13.4m) and given a suspended transfer ban following an investigation into 74 alleged breaches of the English Football Association’s regulations.
The west London side were also initially hit with a suspended six-point deduction by an independent regulatory commission, which handed out the punishments, before this was overturned on appeal.
The FA charged Chelsea in September for breaches related to its agent regulations, regulations on working with intermediaries, and third-party investment in players regulations.
The breaches relate to a period of time between 2009 and 2022 and “primarily events that occurred between the 2010-11 to 2015-16 playing seasons” — when Roman Abramovich was still owner of Chelsea — the FA said.
“Chelsea FC admitted to the 74 breaches of FA Rule E1.2 prior to a hearing and an independent Regulatory Commission imposed a six-point deduction, which was to be suspended until 30 June 2027, and a £10 million fine,” a statement from the FA said on Friday.
“The club appealed against the suspended points deduction and an independent Appeal Board allowed the appeal and set aside this sanction following a further hearing. In its place, the Appeal Board imposed a registration ban for two complete and consecutive transfer windows which is suspended until 30 June 2027.”
The FA added that it “is continuing to investigate individual misconduct arising out of this case”.
“Chelsea Football Club is pleased to confirm that a final decision has been reached by The FA’s judicial bodies in relation to historical regulatory matters that were self-reported by the club,” Chelsea said in a statement on Friday.
“In 2022, the club self-reported potential historical rule breaches to all applicable regulators. Following that report, it has worked openly and transparently with all regulators, including voluntarily and proactively disclosing many thousands of documents.
“As previously announced, settlement agreements have been entered into with UEFA and the Premier League concerning the same self-reported regulatory matters and topics that have been addressed before. The club is pleased to confirm that, now The FA process has concluded, this brings all regulatory proceedings against the club to a close.”
The latest decision brings the amount of money Chelsea have been fined to more than £18m, after UEFA imposed a €10million (£8.6m, $11m at the time) sanction in July 2023 concerning the same offences.
Abramovich was disqualified by the Premier League in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the previous month, after the UK government froze his assets due to his “close ties with the Kremlin”.
Chelsea said last year their current owners — the investor consortium BlueCo, led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital — self-reported the issue when a “due diligence” process revealed ” potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions and other potential breaches of FA rules”. The club called their cooperation “unprecedented transparency”.
In a separate case, Chelsea were also handed a suspended one-year ban from signing first-team players and given a £10million ($13.7m; €11.6m) fine from the Premier League in March relating to breaches of financial rules during Abramovich’s time as owner.
This related to incomplete financial reporting and missed payments. The sanction agreement between Chelsea and the FA outlined that between 2011 and 2018, Chelsea paid more than £23m to seven unregistered agents “or entities associated with them” in connection with the transfer and registration of seven players, including Eden Hazard, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
