When BlueCo bought Chelsea Football Club from Roman Abramovich in the sale forced by the UK government four years ago, the new ownership group found some financial irregularities in the books relating to historical transfers (a.k.a. “incomplete” financial information, a.k.a. secret payments to agents and the like), including during the signing of Eden Hazard for example, or David Luiz, or Willian and Samuel Eto’o.
Chelsea’s new owners set aside a fair chunk of cash at the closing of the sale for this
and other “unforeseen liabilities” before reporting it to the relevant authorities. A year later, we settled for a €10m fine with UEFA over these violations, then, some time later, we settled for another £10.75m with the Premier League over the same violations. The FA of course saw all this play out and also wanted their cut. Also for £10m. You’re welcome, grassroots football.
But because The FA like to be just a bit extra, they first wanted to impose a (suspended) 6-point deduction on Chelsea as well. On appeal, that nonsense was dropped, and replaced by a (suspended) 2-window transfer ban instead. That suspended punishment is valid until the end of this season (June 30, 2027), after which it goes away if we don’t commit any further violations in the meantime.
So, I think every relevant regulatory body have now taken their 10m cut, so we can put this whole situation to rest and never have to deal with it again.
