Chelsea hit with 74 charges for alleged breaches of FA’s agent regulations | OneFootball

Chelsea have been slapped with 74 charges by the Football Association related to alleged breaches of agent regulations.

The FA said the charges relate to conduct that spanned a period between 2009 to 2022, when the club were owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and primarily relates to events which occurred between the 2010/11 to 2015/16 seasons.

The FA said the Blues have until September 19 to respond to the charges.

An FA statement said: "The Football Association has today charged Chelsea FC with breaches of Regulations J1 and C2 of The FA Football Agents Regulations, Regulations A2 and A3 of The FA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries, and Regulations A1 and B3 of The FA Third Party Investment in Players Regulations.

"In total, 74 charges have been brought against Chelsea FC. The conduct that is the subject of the charges ranges from 2009 to 2022 and primarily relates to events which occurred between the 2010/11 to 2015/16 playing seasons.

"Chelsea FC has until 19 September 2025 to respond."

Chelsea responded swiftly to the FA’s announcement with a club statement, revealing they had "self-reported" to the FA over the alleged charges.

“Chelsea FC is pleased to confirm that its engagement with The FA concerning matters that were self-reported by the club is now reaching a conclusion,” the statement read.

"The club's ownership group completed its purchase of the club on 30 May 2022. During a thorough due diligence process prior to completion of the purchase, the ownership group became aware of potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions and other potential breaches of FA rules. Immediately upon the completion of the purchase, the Club self-reported these matters to all relevant regulators, including The FA.

"The club has demonstrated unprecedented transparency during this process, including by giving comprehensive access to the club's files and historical data. We will continue working collaboratively with The FA to conclude this matter as swiftly as possible. We wish to place on record our gratitude to The FA for their engagement with the club on this complex case, the focus of which has been on matters that took place over a decade ago.”

In August 2023, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said his organisation was investigating "historic" financial issues that the club had self-reported to the Premier League and to the FA.

The previous month, Chelsea agreed a resolution with European football's governing body to hand over €10m (£8.57m) after owning up to "incomplete financial reporting" under the Abramovich regime.

Uefa said it had been "proactively" approached with the information by Chelsea's new ownership group.