Premier League has imposed its largest fine ever by a wide margin on Chelsea: £10m, a one-year ban on transfer signings for the first team (suspended) and a nine-month immediate transfer ban for the academy. It's a historic decision, but one that Chelsea accepted and agreed with the Premier League, carrying no sporting sanctions like point deductions.
The fine comes as the club voluntarily reported breaches relating to Financial Reporting and Third-Party Investment, made between 2011 and 2018, when the club was owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich (2009-2022). "A number of secret payments by third parties associated with the club were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties", said the statement, used to sign players like Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle, and Nemanja Matic.
Premier League said they would have given the club a £20m fine, but they took into consideration Chelsea's proactive self-reporting, admissions of breach and "exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation" as mitigating factors. The fine was cut in half and the prohibition to sign players for the first team was suspended for two years, meaning it won't go into effect if Chelsea doesn't commit further infractions.
Besides, it was found that, despite the secret payments, the club would have not breached its Profitability and Sustainability rules during the applicable seasons, so a sporting sanction with points deduction was ruled out.
Chelsea, however, was given another sanction related to the academy due to registration of academy players between 2019 and 2022: immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and a £750,000 fine.