Chelsea have been fined £10 million and handed a suspended transfer ban after admitting multiple breaches of Football Association rules relating to payments made to agents and third parties between 2009 and 2022.
The FA confirmed the Blues have also avoided a points deduction after a suspended six-point penalty was overturned on appeal, with the punishment instead reduced to financial sanctions.
The breaches were uncovered after Chelsea’s current owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, voluntarily reported 74 potential rule violations following their takeover of the club in 2022.
Chelsea admitted making £47 million in undisclosed payments to unregistered agents and third parties linked to player transfers between 2011 and 2018, during Roman Abramovich’s ownership.
As part of the punishment, the club received a suspended ban from registering new players for two transfer windows, which will only come into effect if further breaches are committed before June 30, 2027.
The FA said it was continuing to investigate “individual misconduct arising out of this case”.
Chelsea’s initial financial penalty of £26 million was reduced after the club’s extensive cooperation with the investigation.
Chelsea get away with more rule breaks
The fine was first cut by a third to £17.25 million because of Chelsea’s self-reporting and what the independent regulatory commission described as “exceptional and unprecedented” cooperation.
It was then reduced to £11.4 million after the club entered an early guilty plea, before being lowered to £10 million to reflect separate financial penalties already imposed by UEFA and the Premier League.
The FA said the final sanction was “an appropriate penalty” that would both punish Chelsea and “deter similar misconduct and maintain the integrity of the game”.
The £10 million fine will be invested into grassroots football.
In its written reasons, the regulatory commission said: “Had the club not brought these matters to the attention of the FA, it is unlikely that they would have been discovered.”
The panel also explained that the suspended six-point deduction had been set aside because neither the FA nor the Premier League sought a sporting sanction.
The latest punishment follows another disciplinary case earlier this year, when Chelsea received a nine-month academy transfer ban and a £750,000 fine over breaches relating to the registration of youth players between 2019 and 2022.
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