Chelsea fined £10m and given suspended transfer ban by FA over agent breaches

Chelsea have been fined £10m and given a suspended two-window transfer ban after admitting breaches of agent rules, the FA announced on Friday.

The breaches were self-reported by Chelsea following its takeover by Todd ⁠Boehly and ​private equity firm Clearlake Capital in May 2022. An earlier independent commission had imposed a suspended six-point deduction, which has now been set aside, with the suspended transfer ban imposed in its place.

The club’s Clearlake Capital ownership group admitted the £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third-parties over transfers between 2011 and 2018 under Roman Abramovich’s regime.

The FA released a statement on Friday outlining the sanctions, which read: “Its current ownership self-reported misconduct upon its purchase of the club. The FA is continuing to investigate individual misconduct arising out of this case.

“Chelsea FC admitted to the 74 breaches of FA Rule E1.2 prior to a hearing and an independent regulatory commission imposed a six-point deduction, which was to be suspended until 30 June 2027, and a £10m fine.

“The club appealed against the suspended points deduction and an independent appeal board allowed the appeal and set aside this sanction following a further hearing. In its place, the appeal board imposed a registration ban for two complete and consecutive transfer windows which is suspended until 30 June 2027.

“The £10m fine imposed by the regulatory commission was not subject to appeal and the full amount will be invested into grassroots football.”

The Premier League and Uefa have already sanctioned Chelsea over the self-reported agent breaches after holding their own investigations. In March, Chelsea were fined a record £10.75m and handed a one-year first-team transfer ban, suspended for two years, along with an immediate nine-month ban on academy player transfers. Uefa fined them €10m in July 2023.

Chelsea released a statement in response to the FA punishments on Friday, which read: “Chelsea Football Club is pleased to confirm that a final decision has been reached by the FA’s judicial bodies in relation to historical regulatory matters that were self-reported by the club.

“In 2022, the club self-reported potential historical rule breaches to all applicable regulators. Following that report, it has worked openly and transparently with all regulators, including voluntarily and proactively disclosing many thousands of documents.

“As previously announced, settlement agreements have been entered into with Uefa and the Premier League concerning the same self-reported regulatory matters and topics that have been addressed before. The club is pleased to confirm that, now the FA process has concluded, this brings all regulatory proceedings against the club to a close.”