Chelsea have agreed a resolution with Uefa and will pay €10m (£8.57m) to European football’s governing body as a sanction for “incomplete financial reporting” under the ownership of Roman Abramovich.
The club’s new ownership group, led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, completed its takeover in May last year from Abramovich, who was punished over his links to Russia president, Vladimir Putin. Uefa confirmed it was approached “proactively” by the Boehly-led consortium. It detected instances of partial financial information being submitted in historical transactions occurring between 2012 and 2019, breaching Uefa Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations.
“Following its assessment, including the applicable statute of limitations, the CFCB [Club Financial Control Body] First Chamber entered into a settlement agreement with the club which has agreed to pay a financial contribution of €10m to fully resolve the reported matters,” read a Uefa statement.
A Chelsea statement read: “In accordance with the club’s ownership group’s core principles of full compliance and transparency with its regulators, we are grateful that this case has been concluded by proactive disclosure of information to Uefa and a settlement that fully resolves the reported matters.
“We wish to place on record our gratitude to Uefa for its consideration of this matter. Chelsea greatly values its relationship with Uefa and looks forward to building on that relationship in the years to come.”
Uefa has also banned Juventus from playing in European competition next season over breaches of its Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play rules.
A formal investigation was opened into Juventus in December, months after the Italian club were among eight clubs that reached a settlement with Uefa for failing to comply with break-even requirements. In a statement, the governing body said it would “impose an additional financial contribution of €20m on the club.”
“Of this amount, €10m is conditional and will only be enforced if the club’s annual financial statements for the financial years 2023, 2024 and 2025 do not comply with the accounting requirements,” the Uefa statement added.
Juventus, who qualified for the Conference League playoff round after finishing seventh in Serie A last season, said it had waived the right to appeal the decision but maintained its innocence.
“We do not share the interpretation that has been given of our defence, and we remain firmly convinced of the legitimacy of our actions and the validity of our arguments. However, we have decided not to appeal this judgment,” the Juventus chairman, Gianluca Ferrero, said.
