Chelsea Charged with 74 FA Rule Breaches

The Football Association (FA) charged Chelsea with 74 counts on Thursday after the London club was accused of breaking rules about football agents, middlemen, and third-party investment in players.

FA doesn’t say what the charges are, but Chelsea said that the club’s new owners, who took over in May 2022, “self-reported” the issues. The FA said in a statement that the charges are for things that happened between 2009 and 2022.

The FA said in a statement, “The actions that led to the charges happened between 2009 and 2022 and mostly have to do with events that happened during the 2010–11 to 2015–16 playing seasons.”

Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch, controlled the club at the time. However, after Russia invaded Ukraine and the country was hit with sanctions, he put Chelsea up for sale in 2022.

Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and then sold it to an investor group managed by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.

The Chelsea said that once the transaction was finished, the group that owned the team realized they could have broken certain rules and reported it themselves.

“Chelsea said in a statement, ‘During a thorough due diligence process before the purchase was completed, the ownership group became aware of potentially incomplete financial reporting about past transactions and other possible violations of FA rules.'”

“The club told all the right regulators, including the FA, about these things right after the deal was finished.

“During this process, the club has been more open than ever before, even allowing full access to the club’s files and historical data.

“We will keep working together with the FA to get this matter settled as quickly as possible.”

Chelsea has until September 19 to answer to the FA’s charge. Reuters says that Chelsea gave the FA access to their financial data so that the governing body of English football could make informed decisions about the payments that had already been paid.

We don’t know what the charges or the strange payments were for, but they were said to be connected to the men’s squad.