Chelsea has been charged with 74 offences under the Football Association’s (FA) regulations governing agents, intermediaries, and third-party investments. The west London club’s wrongdoing extends back to the 2010/11 and 2015/16 seasons.
It is understood that the reigning Europa Conference League and Club World Cup winners violated six FA regulations, which are in place for all teams to observe, between 2009 and 2022, when Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was the owner.
The Blues, five-time English Premier League champions, were sold by Abramovich in 2022 after the UK Government sanctioned him following his country’s invasion of Ukraine – but, as evidenced by the FA’s recent revelation of the 74 charges, they are still facing backlash from decisions made under the previous ownership model.
Chelsea Charged With Breaking Six FA Regulations
On X (formerly Twitter), an FA Spokesperson wrote the following: “The Football Association has today charged Chelsea FC with breaches of Regulations J1 and C2 of the FA Football Agents Regulations, Regulations A2 and A3 of the FA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries, and Regulations A1 and B3 of the FA Third Party Investment in Players Regulations.” Chelsea FC has faced a total of 74 charges.”
The statement went on to say that all 74 charges against the club relate to incidents that transpired between the 2010/11 and 2015/16 seasons, when the aforementioned Abramovich had complete control of proceedings in west London. Chelsea is now owned by BlueCo, a 2022 partnership led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, and has been charged with 74 charges.
“The charges pertain mostly to occurrences that occurred between the 2010/11 and 2015/16 playing seasons. Chelsea FC has until September 19, 2025 to answer.
Chelsea, who have started the 2025/26 Premier League season well with two victories and one tie in three games, now have until September 19, 2025 to answer to the FA. Between now and then, they will travel to Brentford in the league and to Bayern Munich to begin their Champions League campaign. The day after their deadline, they will face Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United in the Premier League.
Chelsea responds to charges with a club statement.
Chelsea has issued a statement to clarify the situation after the news spread on the internet. “Chelsea FC is delighted to confirm that its engagement with The FA over problems that were self-reported by the club is now coming a conclusion,” they stated, before adding: “The Club’s ownership group finalised its purchase of the club on May 30, 2022.
During the free-spending BlueCo’s acquisition of the English behemoths from Abramovich, the statement asked that the FA be made aware of ‘possibly inadequate financial reporting’ that occurred under the previous ownership paradigm. The club claims it self-reported such infractions to all relevant parties, including the English FA.
“During a rigorous due diligence process before to the purchase, the ownership group discovered potentially insufficient financial reporting about earlier transactions and other potential violations of FA laws. Immediately after the purchase, the Club self-reported these issues to all relevant regulators, including The FA.”
The statement continued: “The Club has displayed extraordinary transparency throughout this process, including providing complete access to the Club’s files and historical data. We will continue to collaborate with The FA to resolve this situation as quickly as feasible. We would like to express our gratitude to The FA for their involvement with the Club in this complex issue, the focus of which has been on matters that occurred over a decade ago.”
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