Uefa will assess Chelsea’s sale of its women’s team to parent company BlueCo at the end of the season.
On Monday, Chelsea reported a pre-tax profit of £128.4m for the year ending June 2024 – their first positive financial results under the ownership of Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium.
That was largely down to the “repositioning” of their highly successful women’s team as a separate business from the men’s team, and followed a similar move in their previous financial results – when the club sold two hotels to a sister company to keep them compliant with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
The Blues have already been cleared of any PSR breaches in January, along with the other 19 top-flight clubs.
The current Premier League financial rules do not address associated party transactions (APTs), after clubs were unable to close the loophole after an AGM meeting in June.
However, European football’s governing body Uefa has more stringent Financial Fair Play rules which would discount APTs of all its members, including Chelsea’s sale of its women’s team and two hotels, which were sold for £76.6m during the 2022-23 season.
That would vastly weaken Chelsea’s position over the three-year monitoring period, with Uefa allowing a maximum £75m loss compared to an £105m loss in the Premier League over the same spell.
All cases would have to be assessed individually by Uefa’s independent panel. Punishments can come in the form of settlements or fines, but are unlikely to involve severe sporting sanctions.
In 2022, Paris St-Germain were among the clubs to face substantial fines for breaching Uefa’s FFP rules and were ordered to pay £8.6m.
Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League with nine games left to play, so will likely qualify for one of Uefa’s three main competitions and face scrutiny under its jurisdiction.
They also faced an £8.6m fine over historic FFP breaches under Roman Abramovich in 2023, which remain under investigation by the Premier League.