England’s Football Association (FA) has charged Chelsea with 74 breaches of its regulations, including rules on football agents, the use of intermediaries, and third-party investment in players.
The alleged breaches date back to the Roman Abramovich era, with the FA confirming that the conduct under investigation stretches from 2009 to 2022, primarily covering the 2010/11 to 2015/16 seasons. Abramovich, who bought Chelsea in 2003, sold the club in May 2022 to a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
According to The Telegraph, it was the new ownership that self-reported possible irregularities to the FA during the takeover process.
In its statement, the FA said: “The Football Association has today charged Chelsea FC with breaches of Regulations J1 and C2 of The FA Football Agents Regulations, Regulations A2 and A3 of The FA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries, and Regulations A1 and B3 of The FA Third Party Investment in Players Regulations. In total, 74 charges have been brought against Chelsea FC. The conduct that is the subject of the charges ranges from 2009 to 2022 and primarily relates to events that occurred between the 2010/11 to 2015/16 playing seasons.”
Chelsea have been given until 19 September 2025 to respond to the charges. The club issued its own statement shortly after the FA announcement, stressing that it had acted with transparency since the Boehly-Clearlake takeover.
“Chelsea FC is pleased to confirm that its engagement with The FA concerning matters that were self-reported by the club is now reaching a conclusion,” the statement read. The Blues added that the new owners had uncovered “potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions and other potential breaches of FA rules” during due diligence before the 2022 purchase, and immediately reported these to relevant regulators.
“The Club has demonstrated unprecedented transparency during this process, including by giving comprehensive access to the Club’s files and historical data. We will continue working collaboratively with The FA to conclude this matter as swiftly as possible. We wish to place on record our gratitude to The FA for their engagement with the Club on this complex case, the focus of which has been on matters that took place over a decade ago.”