UEFA will review Chelsea’s sale of its women’s team to the parent company BlueCo at the end of the season.
On Monday, Chelsea announced a pre-tax profit of £128.4 million for the year ending in June 2024. This marks their first positive financial results under the ownership of Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital group.
This profit mainly came from “repositioning” their very successful women’s team as a separate business from the men’s team.
This change followed a similar decision in their earlier financial results, where the club sold two hotels to a sister company to stay in line with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
The Blues have been found to have no issues with PSR breaches in January, just like the other 19 clubs in the top league.
The current financial rules in the Premier League do not cover associated party transactions (APTs), as clubs could not fix this problem after a meeting in June.
On the other hand, Uefa, the governing body for European football, has stricter Financial Fair Play rules that include APTs for all its members. This means Chelsea’s sale of its women’s team and two hotels for £76.6 million during the 2022-23 season would be excluded.
This situation would significantly weaken Chelsea’s standing during the three-year monitoring period. Uefa permits a maximum loss of £75 million, while the Premier League allows a loss of £105 million in the same time frame.
Each case will need to be evaluated separately by UEFA’s independent panel. Penalties may include settlements or fines, but they are not expected to involve serious sporting punishments.
In 2022, Paris St-Germain was one of the clubs that received large fines for violating UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, and they were required to pay £8.6 million.
Chelsea currently sits fourth in the Premier League with nine games remaining, making it likely that they will qualify for one of UEFA’s three main competitions and will be under its review.
In 2023, they also faced an £8.6 million fine for past FFP violations during Roman Abramovich’s ownership, and this matter is still being looked into by the Premier League. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire shared with BBC Sport:
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This is definitely an unusual level of profit that we haven’t seen before. However, there is still some uncertainty about how much a women’s team is really worth.
Chelsea needed to submit their financial reports to the Premier League by December 31, 2024. The Premier League had two weeks to look over these reports and chose not to take any further action, which means they were satisfied with what they saw.
Chelsea gains an advantage from being located in a wealthy part of London, making it easier for them to sell hotels as valuable real estate.
Some club owners have shown interest in getting rid of this specific rule.
In the EFL, you cannot sell your assets to yourself and record profits. The regulations set by UEFA are complicated and hard to understand, and there’s no guarantee that Chelsea will be able to make use of these profits.
UEFA usually fines clubs for breaking financial rules instead of giving penalties for on-field issues. If I were a fan of Nottingham Forest or Everton, I would likely feel very upset because they have faced serious penalties, like losing points in the past, for spending money, even though they spent much less than Chelsea.
However, the owners of the Premier League have chosen to permit this specific feature. It might seem odd, but it’s their decision, and they are playing by their own rules.
