04-07-2025
Chelsea, Aston Villa handed UEFA fines, spending restrictions for breaching financial rules
Chelsea and Aston Villa have been fined €31million and €11m respectively after breaching UEFA's financial rules.
The Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) announced on Friday a series of disciplinary measures for clubs under monitoring for the 2024-25 season.
The unconditional figures are split into a fine for breaking the governing body's football earnings rule (Chelsea €20m and Villa €5m) and another for being in breach of their squad cost rule (€11m and €6m).
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The total fines for each club come to €91m and €26m, with the added conditional fine being part of a settlement agreement with UEFA that covers a four-year period for Chelsea and a three-year period for Villa.
Chelsea and Villa were found to have a squad cost ratio above 80 per cent for 2024 and were awarded fines proportionate to the size of the excess.
Both clubs will also limited in what they can spend with players on UEFA's List A for club competitions having to hold a positive transfer balance, i.e. the cost of players added must not exceed those being removed.
Elsewhere, Barcelona were handed €15m in unconditional fines while Olympique Lyonnais (€12.5m), Besiktas (€900,000) Panathinaikos (€400,000) and Hajduk Split (€300,000) have also been sanctioned.
Both Chelsea and Villa sold their women's teams to their respective parent holding companies – Chelsea to Blueco in May and Villa to V Sports at the end of June – in order to generate income and prevent losses that would have them breach the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
Unlike the Premier League, however, UEFA does not allow for the sale of tangible assets to sister or parent companies to count towards their Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
The Athletic reported in July that senior figures describe UEFA's squad cost rules as the most serious challenge that faces Villa, with compliance a difficult task.
Aston Villa sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to do so publicly, feel comfortable in their abilities to perform on a domestic and European front despite the sanctions.
The Athletic has approached Chelsea for comment although club sources in April, also speaking anonymously, noted that co-owners Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly were relaxed about their position.
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In September 2022, UEFA charged eight clubs with failing to comply with FFP rules, including Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain, who were sanctioned with a €10m fine after failing to stay within spending limits.
At the same time PSG were hit with a financial sanction, the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) First Chamber, an independent panel within UEFA tasked with policing FFP, announced that Chelsea, along with multiple clubs competing in Europe in 2021-22, were going to be 'monitored closely'.
