Chelsea have been fined £10.75 million by the Premier League and handed a suspended transfer ban for breaking rules relating to financial reporting, third party investment and youth development during Roman Abramovich’s time as owner.
The Premier League made the announcement this lunchtime following a lengthy investigation that started in 2022 when the London club reported themselves for potential violations.
The verdict has been ratified by an independent commission and accepted by Chelsea.
In addition to the fine, the club have been hit with an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and a one-year first-team player transfer ban, although the latter is suspended for two years .
No retrospective PSR issues for Chelsea
In a statement, 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 assessed a series of recalculations of the club’s historical financial submissions which took into account the payments made for the benefit of Chelsea FC. Importantly, having undertaken that assessment, 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.
“The Premier League and Chelsea FC have now entered into a sanction agreement under which the club accepts a £10million fine and a suspended one-year first team transfer ban (suspended for two years).”
Transfer ban also put in place
The club were also found to have breached the Premier League’s Youth and Development rules.
The statement added: “In addition, the League also investigated potential breaches of the Premier League’s Youth Development Rules, committed by a former senior employee, relating to the club’s registration of Academy players between 2019 and 2022. This followed a further voluntary report by the club in 2025.
“As a result of this additional investigation, a separate sanction agreement has been entered into with Chelsea FC, under which the club has accepted an immediate nine-month ban from registering Academy players from Premier League and EFL clubs. The club will also pay a £750,000 fine.
“All sanctions will take effect immediately with the club also paying the full costs of the League’s investigation and disciplinary processes.”
A separate FA disciplinary process involving the club’s alleged breaches of FA Regulations arising out of similar conduct remains ongoing while the club reached a settlement with UEFA in 2022 that cost them £8.6m.
Chelsea praise their own conduct
Chelsea were quick to highlight their honesty in admitting the breaches following Abramovich’s sale of the club to an American consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly.
A Chelsea statement read: “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’.”
