Chelsea hit with transfer ban and huge fine for breaching Premier League financial rules under Roman Abramovich ownership

The Premier League confirmed on Monday afternoon that Chelsea had been handed their punishment after the club self-reported instances of incomplete financial reporting and missing payments from Abramovich's spell as club owner. The incidents in question were from over ten years ago.

It has been decided that Chelsea will not be able to register academy players for the next nine months, though they have avoided another immediate ban on signing players for the first-team squad. Chelsea were hit with an initial two-window ban by FIFA in 2019 relating to rules over signing under-18 players, though this was reduced to one window following an appeal.

Instead, Chelsea will serve a two-year suspended sentence over a senior transfers ban, meaning they will not have to serve it unless they commit further breaches. Chelsea will also not be deducted any points in the Premier League either after such a punishment was previously tipped for the regulation breaches.

Upon their takeover of the club in 2022, Chelsea's BlueCo owners discovered the previous regime had made secret payments to players, unlicensed agents and third parties, with deals for Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o and Willian among those that were under scrutiny.

In a statement on Monday, the Premier League said: "As a result of the Premier League's investigation, it was established that between 2011 and 2018, undisclosed payments by third parties associated with the club were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties.

"These payments were not disclosed to the football regulatory authorities at the time, including the Premier League. The payments were made for the benefit of Chelsea FC and should have been treated as having been made by the club.

"The club has also accepted, among other things, that the making of these payments, as well as the failure to disclose them to the League, constituted a breach of the requirement to act in good faith towards the League.

"The Premier League Board was satisfied that in no scenario would the club have breached the League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules during the relevant periods, had the relevant payments been properly included in the club’s historical financial submissions.

"When considering the appropriate sanction, the Premier League Board noted that the club’s proactive self-reporting, admissions of breach and exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation acted as significant mitigating factors."

In their own statement, Chelsea said: "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.

"As previously announced, the club voluntarily and proactively disclosed to all applicable regulators potential historical rule breaches, including incomplete financial reporting that took place over a decade ago.

"During an extensive Premier League investigation, the club proactively disclosed many thousands of documents. Also, when requests for information were made by the Premier League, the club promptly provided comprehensive responses and facilitated all lines of inquiry to support a complex and extremely thorough process.

"Furthermore, during the investigation, additional evidence was provided to the club by a third party regarding potential breaches of Premier League rules committed by a former employee in a small number of historical academy transactions. This information was immediately and proactively self-reported to the Premier League.

"The club wishes to make clear that following robust financial analysis by the Premier League, it was concluded that 'in no scenario would the club have exceeded the maximum allowable loss of £105 million over the three-year assessment period in the Rules.' Accordingly there is no scenario in which the club could have been in breach of the applicable limits in the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules during the applicable seasons historically.

"From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators. The club welcomes the recognition from the Premier League of its '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'.

"The club accepts the terms of the settlement in full, details of which have been published on the Premier League website. For clarity, the nine-month restriction on registering Academy players applies immediately, but only to Academy players who have previously been registered with another League or EFL club in the preceding 18 months. It does not apply to current Chelsea players, international players or players who are applying for their first registration at Under 9.

"We are pleased that the matter is now concluded."

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