Chelsea face possible points deduction over 'secret payments'

Robin Bairner

15 Nov 2023 08:48 GMT
3 min read

Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea, 2023/24 — © ProShots

Chelsea could face a points deduction over how Roman Abramovich funded both the running of the club and transfers when he was still the owner of the Premier League club.

Article continues under the video

Abramovich spent 19 years in charge of the Stamford Bridge club before having his assets frozen following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the spring of 2022.

His arrival in the Premier League ushered in a new era of massive spending in football and regularly came under scrutiny during his time as the head of Chelsea.

Around 18 months after he sold the club, though, the Blues face the prospect of punishment for secret payments that may have breached Financial Fair Play rules, according to a report in the Guardian.

Abramovich is said to have facilitated payments worth tens of millions of pounds through offshore pathways that were designed to benefit Chelsea and may have been hidden in the club’s official accounts. These payments were made between 2005 and 2018.

“Beneficiaries appear to include the agent of the star player Eden Hazard, an associate of the title-winning manager Antonio Conte and Chelsea FC officials. Other payments appear to have been connected to the purchase of the players Willian and Samuel Eto’o,” the Guardian report states.

Chelsea’s punishment could be severe

This could have potentially serious repercussions for Chelsea.

Samuel Cuthbert, a sports barrister at Outer Temple Chamber, is quoted as saying: “If a club were to hide outgoings […] by paying those sums through other entities, it is conceivable that they could be in breach of the FFP rules.

“Any opportunity to gain an unfair advantage skews the competition in favour of a particular club, and undermines the integrity of football, on a fundamental principled level.”

© ProShots - Payments made to Eden Hazard's agent are under question

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire said: “If there is proof that the club has used third-party transactions to circumvent the profitability and sustainability rules then sanctions would be either financial or a points deduction.

“The latter is more likely as any commission investigating a club’s circumstances will want to put out a deterrent that dissuades others from repeating such behaviour.”

Chelsea are already under question for “incomplete financial information” submitted to the Premier League from 2012 to 2019. This came about following the new ownership of the club, headed by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, discovering possible discrepancies in the accounts of the club and voluntarily putting the club under investigation.