This club in London is also banned from transferring young players from the academy for nine months immediately.
According to British media, Chelsea's total fine of £10.75 million is related to secret payments to player agents worth £47.5 million from 2011 to 2018, when Roman Abramovich was the owner, and violations of regulations on young player registration.
The Premier League report has named a number of transfers related to secret payments, including deals of Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic. There is no evidence that these players have committed wrongdoing.
The total expected fine is £20 million but has been reduced by half because Chelsea voluntarily reported and cooperated with the investigation.
Regarding the Premier League's penalty, Chelsea said in a statement: "The club has voluntarily and proactively disclosed to all relevant regulators about past regulatory violations, including incomplete financial statements that occurred more than a decade ago.
In a profound investigation of the Premier League, we proactively released thousands of documents. In addition, when the Premier League requested information, the club quickly provided comprehensive feedback and facilitated all investigation directions to support a complex and extremely thorough process”.
The suspension may take effect if Chelsea commits new fouls of similar nature.
Previously, Chelsea was fined £8.64 million by UEFA in July 2023 for incomplete financial statements of previous owners in 2018 and 2019.
At least six suspicious payments to foreign companies related to money transfer transactions have been identified.
These seven-digit payments are not in the reports that the club submitted to the football governing bodies at that time.
The transfer deals being investigated are said to include the transfers of Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o and Andreas Christensen.
Clubs must provide the Football Association (FA) and the English Premier League (Premier League) with accurate annual financial information. The same applies to UEFA and clubs participating in their leagues.
The 5-year prosecution period regulation of the European Football Federation (UEFA) means that they can only investigate violations that occurred from the 2017-2018 season and before. The English Premier League does not have a prosecution period regulation.
In the immediate future, Chelsea is preparing for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 against PSG at home. In the first leg, Chelsea lost to their opponent 2-5 and faced a very high risk of being eliminated.
