Chelsea and Aston Villa get sanctioned by UEFA for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations
- Anweshan Ghosh
- Jul 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 9
Premier League clubs Chelsea and Aston Villa have been sanctioned by UEFA for breaching European Financial Fair Play regulations and have been handed hefty fines for the same as well.
The Blues have been fined £26.7m, with a further amount of £51.2m to be imposed if the club doesn't sort this mess out in the next four years. Villa, on the other hand, have been handed a £9.5m fine and a further conditional penalty of £12.9m on a notice period of three years.
Both the clubs that participated in last year's UEFA competitions have been found guilty of breaching UEFA’s earnings rule, which states that each club must have a squad cost ratio and the proportion paid out to players as wages be as high as 80%; anything beyond this would lead to breaches.
On top of the fines, both Chelsea and Aston Villa could also be prevented from registering new players in their squad for their respective European competitions in the upcoming season if they fail to escape this financial whirlpool.
Chelsea and several other clubs could face bigger trouble down the road
As reported by BBC Sport, UEFA's financial control body states that the club's sale of tangible or intangible assets, swap deals and transfer deals with other clubs cannot be included in the submitted accounts to the governing body.
Chelsea had previously reported a pre-tax profit of £128.4m, which also included the sale of the women's team to a separate, lone entity for £200m and also the sale of two hotels to a sister company in order to comply with the Premier League's Financial Fair Play rules and regulations.
Similarly, Aston Villa were also reportedly planning on selling their women's team to comply with the Premier League’s FFP margins.
Previously, FC Barcelona and Lyon had been fined £13m and £10.7m, respectively, by UEFA as they failed to meet UEFA's financial conditions. The Catalan giants, however, are reported to have achieved the 1:1 financial status, which could help them register their new signing Joan Garcia in their UCL squad for the next season.
On the contrary, things do not look good at all for Lyon, who have also been relegated to the second division as a punishment by the French Football Federation and would surely be expelled from next season's European football as well if their appeal to the FFF fails.
Premier League club Crystal Palace, who have qualified for the UEFA Europa League for the first time ever in their history, could also face massive consequences for breaching the multi-club ownership rules, as their new owner, John Textor, was also a board member at Lyon while acquiring the Eagles.
The punishment could see Palace being removed from next season's Europa League as a result of the club's breaches, whose verdict currently is under process.
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