Chelsea have been fined £10.75m and handed a suspended transfer ban after breaching Premier League rules over financial reporting, third-party investment and youth development.
The Premier League has been investigating secret payments that were made by Chelsea between 2011 and 2018 when Roman Abramovich owned the London club; the transactions came to light during the due diligence process when the new American owners bought the club in 2022
The transactions came to light during the due diligence process when the new American owners bought the club in 2022.
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They self-reported the irregularities to the Premier League, the FA and UEFA.
The Premier League’s report named a number of transfers related to the unregistered payments, including Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
Chelsea were fined £8.64m (10 million Euros) by UEFA in July 2023 for incomplete financial reporting by the previous owners in 2018 and 2019.
At least six suspect payments to offshore companies connected to transfers were identified.
The seven-figure payments were not in accounts that the club submitted to the football authorities at the time.
The transfers investigated are believed to include the moves of Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o and Andreas Christiansen.
Clubs have to provide the FA and Premier League with accurate financial information every year. The same applies to UEFA and clubs playing in their competitions.
UEFA’s five-year statute of limitations means they could only investigate breaches going back to 2017/18. The Premier League does not have a statute of limitations.
