Chelsea have been fined £10.75 million by the Premier League after an investigation into financial rule breaches during the ownership of Roman Abramovich.
The case focused on undisclosed payments made between 2011 and 2018 to agents, unlicensed intermediaries and other third parties connected to several transfers.
Despite the large fine the biggest ever issued by the Premier League Chelsea avoided harsher sporting punishments such as a points deduction.
However, the club has received a suspended two-year transfer ban for first-team players, which will only take effect if further rule breaches occur.
The Premier League said Chelsea’s strong cooperation during the investigation played a major role in the outcome. The issues were self-reported by the club’s current owners, BlueCo, after they took over from Abramovich in May 2022.
Some of the payments were linked to deals involving players such as Samuel Eto’o, Eden Hazard and Willian. The league also announced an immediate nine-month ban on Chelsea signing academy players from other English clubs’ youth systems due to separate youth development rule breaches between 2019 and 2022.
Importantly, the historical financial reporting issues from over a decade ago did not impact Chelsea’s compliance with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules.
Chelsea said the club took the investigation seriously from the beginning and fully cooperated with authorities, welcoming the league’s acknowledgement of their transparency and self-reporting.
