Chelsea warned they are set to face further sanctions after being hit with transfer ban

Chelsea are set to face more sanctions from the footballing authorities as part of an investigation from the Football Association.

The Blues have been punished for breaching Premier League rules on Financial Reporting, Third Party Investment and Youth Development.

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Chelsea have accepted a £10.75million fine, and been hit with a one-year first team player transfer ban suspended for two years.

An immediate nine-month academy transfer ban has also been given.

Self-reporting of the breaches by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital came into consideration when deciding the punishment’s severity.

However, the FA have conducted a separate disciplinary process that relates to alleged breaches of similar conduct.

A total of 74 charges have been brought against the Premier League club, who could therefore be dealt with further punishment.

“It’s broadly payments to agents, payments to other parties and, sort of, incentives to people to persuade players to come to Chelsea,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire told talkSPORT.

“This was very much during the (Roman) Abramovich era. I think the type of players that were involved, who have sort of been cited… and there’s been nothing done wrong by the players, by the way.

“They will have simply just signed a form, they will have wanted to join Chelsea. But I think Eden Hazard has been mentioned, Willian has been mentioned, Samuel Eto’o.

“It’s trying to persuade, perhaps, other people to encourage their clients or their representatives to allow the players to come to the club.

“And those payments have been made through opaque contracts and opaque accounts.

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“I think it’s also a function of the fact that Roman Abramovich, whilst he invested huge amounts into Chelsea, he was doing this via companies based in the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, and so on.

“And it’s often difficult to follow the crumb trail of cash that’s been paid. Again, looking at a sort of quick review of the Premier League report, there’s been no accusation of fraud.

“It’s more to do with that there’s an awful lot of pieces of paperwork which didn’t necessarily join up particularly well together.”

News of these charges broke in September, with their investigation expected to be concluded imminently.

However, despite the potential for further serious punishment, talkSPORT understands that the FA are set to follow the Premier League with a large fine for the club.

They will receive no sporting sanction for their 74 charges.

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Self-reporting aided Chelsea

talkSPORT reported in March 2025 that Chelsea were negotiating a financial settlement with the Premier League over the breaches.

They argued that they shouldn’t be slapped with a points deduction due to Abramovich no longer being the owner.

Chelsea self-declared and cooperated with the league, just like they did with UEFA before they paid £8m over a similar issue in 2023.

Their self-reporting of the matter appears to have paid dividends as they avoided a points deduction.

When asked if Chelsea will be quietly pleased that their punishment from the Premier League wasn’t worse, Maguire said: “Yes.

“I think, first of all, Chelsea will be delighted that it’s a fine rather than a points deduction. I think it shows the merits of Chelsea self-reporting themselves.

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“When Clearlake Capital acquired the club (in 2022), this was one of the things that they discovered during a period of due diligence.

“And therefore, on the back of that, Chelsea have been confident all along that it would be a financial penalty.

“Clearlake, they held back around about £150m from the buying price for Chelsea so therefore a £10m fine, I think they will be pleased with.

“And I’m sure they’re also very confident that the transfer ban, because it’s suspended, the new owners are confident that they’ve done nothing wrong, so they feel it will be unlikely that that will be imposed.”