Chelsea have been fined £10m by the Football Association and handed a suspended transfer ban after multiple breaches of transfer rules during the Roman Abramovich era. The sanction mirrors a similar punishment imposed by the Premier League earlier this year, which found the club had used unlicensed agents and sought to obscure the nature of their transfer dealings between 2009 and 2022. Deals involving Chelsea legends Samuel Eto’o, Eden Hazard and Willian were among those found to have breached the rules.
The offences were self-reported by Chelsea when new ownership arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2022, and the disciplinary panel praised the club for their cooperation throughout the hearing. In its written reasons, the independent commission condemned the Abramovich-era administration, describing their rule-breaking as “a shameful and arrogant disregard for the rules of the game” that had brought football and Chelsea into disrepute. The commission originally sanctioned Chelsea with a suspended six-point deduction, but that was overturned on appeal and replaced with a suspended two-window ban on registering new players.
The commission also criticised the FA for failing to charge individuals involved in the misdemeanours and for requesting that no sporting sanction be applied. After a submission from the Premier League, which also argued against a sporting sanction, Chelsea appealed successfully. The appeal board found insufficient evidence to show that any sporting advantage had actually been achieved, despite the FA arguing that the club’s actions were intended to gain an edge.
Football finance expert Stefan Borson, head of sport at law firm McCarthy Denning, said Chelsea’s lawyers performed “a masterclass in non-adversarial diplomacy” with both the FA and the Premier League. He noted that even where the FA’s independent panel disagreed with the positions presented, a 15-point deduction starting point was discounted down to a six-point suspended penalty, which was ultimately appealed away, leaving Chelsea to pay a fine from retained escrow from Abramovich’s proceeds.
The sanctions stem from an investigation into tens of millions of pounds in secret payments made by offshore companies owned by Abramovich. Details were uncovered as part of Cyprus Confidential, a Guardian and international media investigation based on leaked data from Cypriot financial services firms. The leak revealed apparent off-book payments to Hazard’s agent and an associate of title-winning manager Antonio Conte.
The FA’s rulings also disclosed for the first time that BlueCo, the consortium that bought Chelsea from Abramovich, reached a multi-million pound settlement with HM Revenue & Customs relating to transactional matters. Chelsea said they had “worked openly and transparently with all regulators” and were pleased to confirm that all regulatory proceedings against the club are now closed.
