IMPACT
Chelsea FC fined millions over secret payments under Abramovich ownership
The Premier League also handed the club a suspended transfer ban over the historical rule breaking.
Chelsea F.C. have been given a record fine for secretive rule-breaching payments revealed as part of ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential investigation — but has avoided a points deduction.
The London-based Premier League club was fined £10.75m, handed a suspended ban from signing first-team players and given an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban.
The suspended transfer ban lasts for two years and will be triggered if there are further breaches.
The Premier League imposed the penalties over breaches of financial rules during Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s ownership.
“All sanctions will take effect immediately with the club also paying the full costs of the League’s investigation and disciplinary processes,” the Premier League said.
The sanctions followed revelations of secret payments revealed by ICIJ partners The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian.
Those revelations were made as part of ICIJ and Paper Trail Media’s Cyprus Confidential investigation that examined Abramovich’s dealings in Cyprus, a notorious secrecy hub used by the oligarch to manage his fortune.
The club stood accused of making undisclosed payments to secure the transfers of star players Eden Hazard, William and Samuel Eto’o, among other charges.
The league investigated the club over undisclosed payments to agents, non-licensed intermediaries and other figures, including players, around signings between 2011 and 2018.
In response, its owners said it had reported the regulatory violations to the Football Association during its 2022 takeover of the club.
During the sale, they said they had found financial discrepancies on the club’s books caused by suspicious payments to offshore companies and to players’ representatives and families.
The club still reportedly faces potential sanctions from the Football Association over 74 charges of breaching agent regulations.
In outlining the settlement, the league pointed to “exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation” from Chelsea and noted that “significant mitigating factors” were at play.
The offences took place under the previous ownership and were self-reported by BlueCo, the investment vehicle that owns the club after the takeover from Abramovich in May 2022.
The Premier League and the Football Association have been examining tens of millions of pounds in secret payments made by offshore companies that were owned by Abramovich.
The league said: “As a result of the Premier League’s investigation, 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.”
Chelsea said: “From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators.
“The club welcomes the recognition from the Premier League of its ‘exceptional cooperation’ and that ‘without those voluntary disclosures and the act of self-reporting, a number of the Premier League rule breaches may never have come to the attention of the league’.”
Chelsea were fined 10 million Euros in 2023 by Uefa after self-reporting historical transactions
Former Chelsea owner Abramovich faces separate legal troubles in Jersey, where he remains the subject of a criminal probe into allegations of corruption and money laundering.