Aston Villa and Chelsea have been fined by UEFA for breaches of its financial rules. Chelsea have to pay a total of £27m in fines and could pay up to £52m more if they breach their four-year agreement with the CFCB.
Aston Villa must pay £9.5m in fines and failure to comply with their three-year settlement could lead to a further penalty of up to £13m more. Both Premier League clubs broke UEFAs football earnings rule and squad cost rule.
Villa and Chelsea had a squad cost ratio (percentage of a clubs income spent on the first-team squad) of between 80 and 90 per cent for 2024. Transfer Centre LIVE! | Chelsea news & transfers🔵Chelsea fixtures & scores | FREE Chelsea highlights▶️Got Sky? Watch Chelsea games LIVE on your phone📱Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW 📺Choose the Sky Sports push notifications you want! 🔔Their fines for this breach – Aston Villa £5.
1m and Chelsea £9.4m – are proportionate to the size of the clubs squad cost excess. From 2025, the squad cost ratio will be 70 per cent. Chelsea have to pay £17.2m for their breaches of the football earnings rule and that could rise to more than £69m if they breach the four-year settlement with the CFCB.
Villa were handed an unconditional fine of £4.3m for their breach of the rule and it could rise to £17.2m if they do not comply with the three-year agreement. Both teams have agreed to a restriction on registering new players for UEFA competitions in the 2025/26 season – unless the value of new signings added to their squads is recouped in sales.
For Chelsea, this measure will also be in place for the 2026/2027 season. If either of the clubs do not stick to the financial targets set out in the settlement, this restriction could come back into effect in subsequent seasons.
We worked closely and transparently with UEFAChelsea have since commented on the matter, where they claimed to have worked closely and transparently with UEFA regarding the breaches. The statement read: Chelsea FC has entered into a settlement agreement with UEFA concerning a break-even deficit reported by the club under UEFAs Financial Sustainability Regulations covering the financial years 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.
The club has also agreed to pay a fine as a result of the clubs squad cost ratio in the 2024 reporting year being between 80 per cent and 90 per cent. The club has worked closely and transparently with UEFA to provide a full and detailed breakdown of its financial reporting, which indicates that the financial performance of the club is on a strong upwards trajectory.
Chelsea FC greatly values its relationship with UEFA and considered it important to bring this matter to a swift conclusion by entering into a settlement agreement. Villa were handed fines of £4.
3m (€5m) and £5.2m (€6m) due to their respective violations. Why have Chelsea been fined? Latest from Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol: Chelsea have been fined a total of €31m by UEFA for breaking their financial rules.
But that fine could go up to €91m, if over the next four years, they do not meet the financial targets set for them by UEFA. UEFA were investigating the sale of the two hotels at Stamford Bridge a couple of years ago for £76m.
Those hotels were sold from one subsidiary of Chelseas holding company to another subsidiary. That is allowed under Premier League rules but not UEFA rules, that is one reason why they have been fined €20m for breaking UEFAs financial monitoring rules.
They have also been fined another €11m, which makes it €31m, for breaking the squad cost rules. Those rules say you can only spend a maximum of 80 per cent of your revenue on transfers and players costs, such as wages and agent fees.
They found that Chelsea had broken the 80 per cent cap and in fact, Chelsea in the 2024 financial reporting year, spent between 80 and 90 per cent of their revenue on squad costs. That is why they have been fined €11m.
If over the four years, they step out of line, they could be in line for another fine of up to €60m. Why have Villa been fined?Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol: They have been fined a total of €11m and if they miss targets set for them by UEFA, it could increase to a maximum of €26m.
The €11m fine is made up of a €5m fine for breaking football earnings rules and they will pay an extra €20m if they miss the financial targets set for them by UEFA. They have also been fined for breaking UEFAs squad cost rule and their fine is €6m.
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