New Delhi: The English Premier League on Monday slapped a record fine of 10.75 million pounds ($14.28 million) and a suspended transfer ban on Chelsea for breaching financial rules.
The former champions were hit with a one-year transfer ban on their first team, which remains suspended for two years, and an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban after current owners voluntarily reported evidence of a potential breach of rules in 2022.
“The Premier League has concluded two separate disciplinary processes involving Chelsea Football Club, following the club voluntarily self-reporting potential historical breaches of rules,” the league said.
“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 league added.
Chelsea’s ownership changed from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich to a consortium led by American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital in May 2022.
A series of recalculations of the club’s historical financial submissions were taken into account before handing them the punishment.
“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,” the league said.
Chelsea will have to pay full costs of EPL’s investigation and disciplinary processes, the league said.
“From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators,” Chelsea said in a statement.