Chelsea fine: FA hands club £10m penalty over agent payments

Chelsea's costly scandal

The punishment was confirmed on Friday, although the club avoided a potential six-point deduction after the suspended penalty was overturned on appeal.

The breaches were uncovered after Chelsea’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, reported 74 potential rule violations when they completed their takeover of the club in 2022.

As BBC Sport reported, the club admitted making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties on transfers between 2011 and 2018.

All of the breaches date to the period when Roman Abramovich owned Chelsea. The FA said it was "continuing to investigate individual misconduct arising out of this case", echoing an earlier wave of sanctions that saw four Premier League clubs hit with heavy fines across the English game.

Why the Chelsea fine was reduced

The Chelsea fine was originally set at £26m but was cut by a third to £17.25m for self-reporting and what the regulatory commission called the "exceptional and unprecedented nature" of the club's co-operation.

It was reduced again to £11.4m for an early guilty plea, then to £10m to reflect fines already imposed by Uefa and the Premier League. The money will be invested into grassroots football.

Had the club not brought these matters to the attention of the FA, it is unlikely that they would have been discovered.

The regulatory commission also confirmed the suspended registration ban and noted the initial points deduction was set aside because neither the FA nor the Premier League had pushed for one.

In March, Chelsea were handed a nine-month academy transfer ban and a £750,000 fine over the registration of academy players.