Chelsea was fined US$14.3 million (NZ$24.4 million) but avoided a points deduction after admitting to breaching Premier League rules in relation to undisclosed payments of more than US$60 million (NZ$102 million) during its previous ownership under Roman Abramovich.
Sanction agreements were reached, the league said overnight, after Chelsea self-reported potential breaches to the Football Association that came to light in 2022 when American investors Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital led a consortium to buy out Abramovich for £2.5 billion (NZ$5.6 billion).
Payments worth around £47 million (NZ$106 million) were made from third-party entities which, the Premier League said, were "controlled by or associated with" Abramovich to unlicensed agents and individuals connected to selling clubs, facilitating transfers for players including Eden Hazard, David Luiz, Samuel Eto’o and Willian.
"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," the league said in a statement
"These payments were not disclosed to the football regulatory authorities at the time, including the Premier League."
The undisclosed payments "were made for the benefit of Chelsea," the statement said, "and should have been treated as having been made by the club".
They "constituted a breach of the requirement to act in good faith towards the league," the competition said.
Chelsea accepted fines totalling £10.75 million ($14.3 million), which were ratified by an independent commission, and was given an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and a suspended one-year transfer ban for first-team players.
No points deduction was applied, however.
The club said it was "pleased" to reach a settlement with the Premier League.
"From the outset of this process," Chelsea said in its own statement, "the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators."
The league noted Chelsea's "proactive self-reporting, admissions of breach and exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation acted as significant mitigating factors," with the club sharing more than 200,000 documents with the Premier League.
The league also said it was satisfied that Chelsea "in no scenario" would have breached the league's profitability and sustainability rules in those periods if the payments made had been properly included in the club’s accounts.
These factors helped to reduce the fine by around 50% and meant a points penalty was not deemed appropriate.
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior said the sanctions would not be a "negative distraction" to the team.
"I think actually that's a line drawn through that issue and we can move on and we can plan to make this club as strong as possible in the long term," he said at a news conference ahead of a Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain.
There have been other financial sanctions against Chelsea
Chelsea's new owners have been fined on multiple occasions by UEFA for financial breaches.
In 2023, during the first year of new regime, Chelsea paid UEFA a €10 million (then NZ$19.6 million) fine to settle irregularities committed while the club was owned by Abramovich, who was forced to sell the club after Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. That was also self-reported by the club.
Last year, Chelsea was fined €20 million (then NZ39.3 million) for failing to approach break-even and a further €11 million (NZ$21.6 million) for spending more than an 80% set limit of its revenue on so-called "squad cost" such as transfers and wages.
A separate disciplinary process conducted by the Football Association is ongoing and relates to the same breaches for which Chelsea has been sanctioned by the Premier League
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