Investigating Chelsea’s murky million-dollar deals

Seeing Chelsea linked to financial irregularities and breaches of financial regulations is becoming less surprising. Sanctioned by FIFA in 2019 and by UEFA in 2023, investigated by the FA, and most recently fined by the Premier League, the Blues have faced years of scrutiny from football’s governing bodies. While the London club has continued to win titles, most notably the 2021 Champions League and last summer’s Club World Cup, and has kept investing heavily in new signings, particularly since BlueCo’s arrival in May 2022, its multimillion-dollar “shady deals” have repeatedly caused problems.

Weeks ago, the Premier League announced the largest fine in its history: £10.75 million, roughly $13.7 million. In a statement, the league reported that the Blues “made undisclosed payments by third parties linked to the club to players, unregistered agents, and other third parties. These payments were not reported to football’s regulatory authorities at the time. The payments were made for the benefit of Chelsea and should have been considered as made by the club.”

In other words, between 2011 and 2018, during Roman Abramovich’s tenure as owner, Chelsea used tax havens to make secret payments to players and agents that were not included in official accounts. The most high-profile case involved Eden Hazard, whose agent reportedly received €7 million, about $7.6 million, to secure the transfer ahead of Manchester United. In total, the London club paid more than €55 million, approximately $60 million, through these arrangements.

But the punishment did not end there. Alongside this historic fine, Chelsea was also handed a one-year ban on signing first-team players, although the sanction has been suspended for two years. The club was also immediately prohibited from registering players for its youth academy for the next nine months. This latter sanction stems from the actions of a former club employee who, between 2019 and 2022, violated Premier League youth development regulations when registering academy players.

This time, Chelsea avoided potential sporting sanctions or a points deduction and will still be able to register first-team players if no further infractions occur. That outcome was largely due to the new ownership’s “voluntary and proactive” disclosure of possible historical regulatory breaches. It also helped that the undeclared payments, exceeding €55 million (around $60 million), would not have caused the club to breach the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play regulations.

However, Stamford Bridge has been paying the price for financial irregularities for years. One recent example dates back to February 2019, when FIFA punished the Blues with a two-window transfer ban, covering the summer of 2019 and the winter of 2020, for violations related to the signing and registration of minors.

In addition to the Premier League’s sanction in mid-March, both UEFA and the English Football Association were informed of the complaint filed by BlueCo in 2022. That disclosure led the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) to reach a settlement with the club, with Chelsea paying a €10 million contribution in 2023, roughly $10.9 million.

Meanwhile, “an independent FA disciplinary proceeding is still underway concerning the club’s alleged breaches of its rules, stemming from similar conduct”. That investigation could result in another fine of around £10 million, or roughly $12.7 million. But the club’s financial controversies do not end there.

Although the accounts presented by Chelsea in April 2025 reported profits of more than €153 million, about $167 million, for the 2024 financial year, allowing them to avoid breaching the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules, those positive figures were somewhat misleading. Without the “repositioning” of Chelsea FC Women in May 2024, which turned the women’s team into a separate business within the club owners’ wider portfolio in exchange for £200 million, around $255 million, the club would have recorded significant losses.

While the Premier League ultimately accepted the manoeuvre under its regulations, UEFA’s stricter rules forced the European governing body to intervene. UEFA did not allow Chelsea to count revenue from the sale of the women’s team or from the sale of hotels to sister companies, and the club faced the risk of exclusion from European competitions if similar practices were repeated.

In reality, Chelsea’s finances were not as strong as they appeared last season. In February, the report European Club Finance and Investment Landscape revealed a deficit of €407 million in Chelsea’s accounts, roughly $444 million. It is the largest loss before tax in the club’s history and also the largest ever recorded in English football. At the European level, only FC Barcelona’s even worse balance sheet during the 2020–2021 season, when the Spanish club reported losses of €555 million, about $605 million, surpasses Chelsea’s deficit.

Given the scale of the club’s spending in recent years, it is not surprising to see Chelsea constantly walking a financial tightrope. The trend accelerated after the departure of Roman Abramovich and the arrival of Todd Boehly. From the summer of 2022 to the winter transfer window of 2026, the Blues have spent around €1.762 billion on new signings, approximately $1.92 billion. The club broke all previous records during the 2022–2023 season alone, spending €630 million, about $686 million.

If the spending at Stamford Bridge continues at this pace, another sanction may only be a matter of time.

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