Chelsea could face points deduction after being hit by 74 FA charges

The Football Association have charged Chelsea with breaking rules around transfers regarding the payment of agents and third-party ownership of players.

The FA said in a statement: "The Football Association has today charged Chelsea FC with breaches of Regulations J1 and C2 of The FA Football Agents Regulations, Regulations A2 and A3 of The FA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries, and Regulations A1 and B3 of The FA Third Party Investment in Players Regulations. In total, 74 charges have been brought against Chelsea FC.

"The conduct that is the subject of the charges ranges from 2009 to 2022 and primarily relates to events which occurred between the 2010/11 to 2015/16 playing seasons. Chelsea FC has until 19 September 2025 to respond."

Despite previously self-reporting some payments from the Roman Abramovich era, Chelsea could be fined or issued with a points deduction or transfer ban if such payments were not registered as part of the club’s original annual financial reporting. The club says it discovered the potential issues after doing due diligence during the takeover in May 2022 and immediately self-reported them.

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Chelsea said in a statement: “Chelsea FC is pleased to confirm that its engagement with The FA concerning matters that were self-reported by the club is now reaching a conclusion.

“The club’s ownership group completed its purchase of the club on 30 May 2022. During a thorough due diligence process prior to completion of the purchase, the ownership group became aware of potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions and other potential breaches of FA rules.

"Immediately upon the completion of the purchase, the club self-reported these matters to all relevant regulators, including The FA.

“The club has demonstrated unprecedented transparency during this process, including by giving comprehensive access to the club’s files and historical data. We will continue working collaboratively with The FA to conclude this matter as swiftly as possible.

"We wish to place on record our gratitude to The FA for their engagement with the club on this complex case, the focus of which has been on matters that took place over a decade ago.”

Abramovich bought Chelsea for £140million in 2003 and oversaw a period of success which included five Premier League trophies and two Champions League titles before being forced to sell the club to a consortium led by Todd Boehly in May 2022 after being sanctioned by the UK government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Chelsea were previously fined £8.6m by UEFA for submitting “incomplete financial information” between 2012 and 2019.

Leaked documents in 2023 revealed that Chelsea were alleged to have used offshore accounts linked to Abramovich to make payments worth tens of millions of pounds over a 10-year period. They were also alleged to have made a string of other secret payments which could have breached financial fair play and accounting rules.

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