Chelsea face potential European ban if they fail to qualify for Champions League

Football finance expert Stefan Borson has speculated that Chelsea could take a European ban if they fail to qualify for the Champions League.

The Premier League is set for five places in UEFA’s premier competition next season – and the Blues are currently sixth.

AFP

They are seven points behind Liverpool in fifth and only six points clear of Newcastle in 14th place.

Therefore, the prospect of no European football, including the Europa League or Conference League, is very much a possibility for Liam Rosenior‘s side – who have lost six of their last seven games.

The club have been forced to reach settlements with the Premier League and UEFA in recent years over breaches of financial rules.

So the prospect of failing to qualify for next season’s Champions League – and the financial implications that come with it – has raised questions.

The Blues are under heightened UEFA pressure to meet the terms of their settlement when it comes to ensuring spending is balanced by sufficient revenue and player sales.

Digging into the details on White and Jordan, Borson suggested the club could voluntarily breach their settlement with UEFA and accept a year-long ban from European competitions.

He said: “The Champions League thing is obviously a very significant issue for a club with their [Chelsea’s] cost base and with their losses.

“And they are telling everyone who is asking that they’re operationally profitable right now.

“It seems to me that you have to strip out all of the player amortisation, which is about £216million this year, so sure, if you strip out one of the biggest lines in your profit and loss, then maybe, you’re operationally profitable.

“But even then, it’s a challenge going forward as they won’t have the Club World Cup money, and if they drop out of the Champions League, obviously they’ll also drop £80m of UEFA prize money…

Getty

“It might be mitigated by a Europa League final, that could give them £40m. Can they still sell Stamford Bridge out in the Europa? Probably pretty close, so they will do £100m matchday if they’re in Europe.”

He continued: “The big issue they’re going to have is if they fall into the Conference League.

“They’ve got a very, very challenging situation with the settlement they agreed with UEFA, if they’re not in the Champions League.

“That is a settlement agreement, which I’ll just speculate now… I think there’s a chance that if they fall into the Conference League, or even Europa League, that they take the decision to breach the settlement agreement and to take a ban like Juventus did in 2023.

“So they’d admit the breach by more than €20m, they pay the fine, the settlement agreement is ripped up, they drop out of Europe for a year, because who wants Conference League anyway, and they reset the settlement agreement going forward.

“Because to me, the settlement agreement that’s currently drafted looks extremely challenging for the next season, particularly if they’re not in the Champions League, but even if they are, it’s the season after.

AFP

“When you keep kicking the can down the road as Chelsea have done, and you find that the rules are changing to exclude the loophole busters that they have – the hotels, the carparks, the women’s team – once you run out of those things, you’ve got to sell players and you’ve got to sell players for profit.

“That’s going to be a big challenge for them, aside from the players they don’t want to sell. Of course they can sell Palmer for a profit…but they don’t want to do that, what they want to do is sell players they’re happy to sell, but there’s no profit in them.”

Champions League done

There is a way that Chelsea can make it into the Champions League by finishing sixth, but they need a big favour from Liverpool and Aston Villa.

First, they need Villa to win the Europa League and finish fifth rather than fourth.

If that were the case, sixth would seal a Champions League place.

However, on the latest edition of Inside Chelsea, Sports Bar host and massive Chelsea fan, Jason Cundy revealed a place at Europe’s top table isn’t on his mind.

He said: “All the teams are stacked up behind us, and they are all playing well.

“I can’t believe we are sixth that is the most astonishing thing when you think about the run we’ve been on, it tells you a little bit about the standard.

“But there are teams tucked in behind us that have their eyes on the prize. They are thinking if they finish sixth, Villa finish fifth and win the Europa League, then they will get Champions League football.

“My concern is we tailspin. All it takes is two bad results, and we will be ninth.

“It’s not impossible to think that if we carry on like this, we might end up bottom half of the table.”

Problems on and off the pitch

Amid the potential chance of no European football or a spot in the Conference League, things aren’t good away from the pitch either.

Inside Chelsea on talkSPORT

talkSPORT does Chelsea like nowhere else.

Stay ahead of every tactical shift, manager sacking and transfer rumour by making talkSPORT’s Inside Chelsea show your weekly go to for all things Blues.

Subscribe now to ensure you never miss a beat of the action one episode at a time, sponsored by BetMGM.

Download the app or visit BetMGM.co.uk. 18+gambleaware.org

Chelsea fans held a large protest against BlueCo before the defeat to Manchester United at the weekend.

Since they bought the club, the Blues have become Club World Cup champions, but have also sacked Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino, while Enzo Maresca has left.

They have spent over £1billion on players and are now facing a bottom-half finish, while players like Marc Cucurella have publicly called out the club’s ambition.

And Chelsea broadcaster Matisse Armani was very scathing of the owners.

He said: “My concern is they are treating Chelsea as an experiment. High-risk, high-reward strategy, where they have all these other assets they can sell.

“The way they are running things doesn’t look like to me, they have Chelsea Football Club, it doesn’t feel like they’ve got the best interest.”

On the protest, Matisse, who was there, said: “I thought it was a great step. That is the biggest protest there has been since the Super League.

“It was much more concentrated in terms of the messaging as everyone knew why they were there.

“It was very clear. We want the ownership to go.

“They’ve been given ample opportunity to take responsibility. The manager’s situation – they are clearly inept in appointing the best in class or at least trying to be ambitious.

“I thought it was a great protest, and hopefully, there will be more.”