Aston Villa purposely breached financial rules – Stefan Borson
Aston Villa are in contention for a Champions League place for the 2025-26 campaign after competing in the competition this season.
Unai Emery’s side sit 10th in the Premier League but are just four points behind fifth-place Chelsea, with five top-flight sides likely to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
However, Villa are expected to have breached Uefa’s squad cost ratio (SCR) rules for the 2024 calendar year.
Clubs in European competitions were required to keep spending on player wages and fees to 80 per cent of revenue last year.
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider the West Midlands giants are likely to receive a relatively small fine from Uefa.
Emery’s side are still in this season’s Champions League and will play Club Brugge across two legs in the round of 16.
Borson previously told Football Insider Villa are facing an “enormous” problem after their wage bill increased significantly last season.
Deloitte’s 2025 Money League revealed the club’s revenue surged from £218million to a new club-record figure of £265million in 2023-24, but their wage bill also rose from £194million to £252million.
Aston Villa to avoid ‘serious’ punishment after financial breach
Borson insisted Villa Park chiefs likely decided to take the Uefa hit a long time ago after realising they couldn’t achieve their ambitions without breaching.
He told Football Insider: “First of all, we don’t know whether you include fines in your profit and loss calculation for PSR.
“It will be a fine if they breach the squad cost control rules for Uefa. That’s the way that system works.
“The only way in which you can get serious competition exclusions or situations like that, or even serious fines, is by repeatedly failing over many years and there’s no sign that they’re going to do that.
“It will be a relatively small fine for this breach. I think it’s factored in.
“I think they realised a long time ago that they could not do what they want to do without breaching, so they take that hit and move on. It’s not a big deal.
“They can concentrate on the Premier League sustainability rules, which are more of a challenge and would have much bigger implications.
“We know that PSR is staying for another year and that Aston Villa will be close for this current season.”
| Games Played | 8 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Draws | 1 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Goal Difference | +7 |
| Ranking | 8th |
| Round of 16 Opponent | Club Brugge (Belgium) |
Aston Villa are set to land £70m windfall
Football Insider revealed on 5 February Villa added £11million to their wage bill following their late January loan deals for Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi.
Rashford and Asensio have both hit the ground running, having contributed a combined four goals and three assists since their arrivals at Villa Park.
Borson previously told Football Insider Villa are already set to generate around £70million in prize money for 2024-25 as they go in pursuit of Champions League qualification again for next season.
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