Why are Chelsea facing charges about the Abramovich regime?

WhyA 94-word statement released by the English Football Association on Thursday has cast a cloud over Chelsea.  The news that the club had been hit with 74 charges relating to alleged breaches of rules on agent payments did not come as a surprise to club executives, given the issue has been hanging over them since 2022, but it has sparked concern among supporters.

The 74 charges are related to alleged breaches of FA rules regarding regulations on working with intermediaries and third-party investment in players.  The alleged offences took place between 2009 and 2022, although the focus is on what took place from the 2010-11 to 2015-16 seasons.

Chelsea say the offences are all related to the regime of the club’s previous owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, although the FA declined to confirm that point when asked about it by The Athletic.

Chelsea also say that they flagged the discrepancies to all the governing bodies — the FA, the Premier League and UEFA, which looks after European football — when the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium bought the club in May 2022.  Significantly, at the time, the consortium withheld £100million ($135m) from the £2.5billion sale price of Chelsea due to concerns they could inherit “unforeseen liabilities” after examining the club’s finances.

Essentially, Chelsea are accused of making payments worth millions of pounds in relation to player signings that were not registered in the club’s accounts submitted to the FA, Premier League and UEFA.

Some of the accounting that has come under scrutiny relates to Eden Hazard’s £32m move from Lille to Chelsea in 2012, plus Willian’s and Samuel Eto’o’s transfers from Anzhi Makhachkala a year later, for £32m and on a free transfer respectively. There is no suggestion that any of the players were guilty of wrongdoing.

One of the reasons the accusations have to be taken so seriously is that they could be seen as Chelsea trying to get around profit and sustainability rules to secure a sporting advantage. However, in the process of looking into their figures, Chelsea say that they hired an independent accountancy firm and they found the club would have still passed the threshold even if all the payments were declared on the official books.

Club sources speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships say this is more of a tax issue and that a financial settlement has already been reached with HMRC.

Chelsea have until September 19 to respond to the FA’s official statement, although there is a recognition that, given the number of charges to examine, the club could be given an extension. Any sanction will be decided by an independent commission, which will be held as soon as possible. If Chelsea plead guilty to all 74 charges, the commission will then just have to decide the punishment. Should the club protest against half of them, for example, the commission will have to decide to uphold or dismiss the half Chelsea have protested against.

The different possibilities mean there is no fixed date for when this will all be over but Chelsea are aiming for it to be resolved quickly. However, there is also the issue of an ongoing Premier League investigation into the same financial issues.

There is a range of sanctions — sporting and non-sporting — that could be applied, ranging from a fine to a Premier League points deduction and/or a transfer ban. Chelsea reporting themselves and not fighting the investigation at any point should aid their cause.

A precedent was set when UEFA handed Chelsea a £8.6m fine in July 2023 for ‘incomplete financial reporting’ under the Abramovich regime. Chelsea are hopeful that the independent panel will reach a similar conclusion and that it will end with another financial penalty rather than a sporting sanction.