‘Newcastle, Nottingham Forest learn UEFA sanctions after Chelsea, Aston Villa fined’
Newcastle and Nottingham Forest now know what awaits them at the hands of UEFA after Chelsea and Aston Villa were fined.
Chelsea sold their women’s team to BlueCo, the club’s parent company, earlier in the season, banking £198.7million [BBC Sport] in profit for their accounting books.
In doing so, the Blues avoided a sanction from the Premier League in relation to profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
Villa found themselves staring down the barrel of a potential PSR sanction at the end of June and, following in Chelsea’s lead, sold their women’s team to V Sports, the parent company that owns the Midlands club.
However, whilst the sales saved both clubs from a Premier League sanction, UEFA rules dictate that the sales of women’s teams to yourself cannot appear on a club’s financial books as profit.
Chelsea and Aston Villa fined millions after breaking UEFA rules
As reported by The Athletic, Chelsea have been fined €31m (£26.7m) and Villa have been fined €11m (£9.5m) for breaching UEFA’s financial rules.
The Blues have been fined €20m (£17.3m) for breaking UEFA’s “football earnings rules” and another €11m (£9.5m) for breaching squad costs rules, whilst the Villains have been fined €5m (£4.32m) and €6m (£5.2m) for breaking those respective rules.
And according to finance expert Stefan Borson on X, those breaches and the resulting sanctions “will impact a number of PL [Premier League] teams this summer.”
Two of those, Newcastle and Forest, “can now see what restrictions they will receive this time next year”, as both clubs “will have breached the €60m (£51.8m) football earnings cap for the 3 years to 30 June 2025.”
Future fines likely to impact Newcastle, Forest transfer business
Football Insider Verdict
Any excitement Newcastle and Forest fans may have had for this summer’s transfer window may be dwindling rather quickly.
The NBA has something called a luxury tax, where if a team exceeds the salary cap threshold, said team must pay a financial penalty to the league.
At first glance, UEFA’s fines look similar. Teams are simply forced to pay a penalty fee for breaking the rules.
However, as previously reported by The Athletic, “repeated offenders are more likely to suffer sporting punishments” from the European governing body.
As such, Newcastle and Forest may be forced to quickly temper any grand plans of splashing out on marquee signings this summer, in favour of reducing squad costs to become compliant with UEFA’s rules.