Chelsea have been fined £10m and given a suspended two-window transfer ban by an independent appeal board after admitting breaches of Football Association agent rules, the FA has announced.
An earlier independent commission had imposed a suspended six-point deduction, which was set aside and the suspended transfer ban imposed in its place.
The FA confirmed the imposition of sanctions on the west London club on Friday, who admitted to a total of 74 breaches of FA regulations covering agents, working with intermediaries and third-party investment in players.
The club's new owners self-reported the breaches to the football authorities in May 2022, when they were in the process of buying the club from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
The transfers which raised potential concerns during the takeover process are believed to include deals for players such as Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o and Willian. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of those players.
The six-point deduction, suspended until June 30 2027, was imposed by the independent commission which initially heard the case but the club appealed against that. An appeal board instead replaced the points penalty with the suspended two-window transfer ban.
The £10m fine imposed by the Regulatory Commission was not subject to appeal and the full amount will be invested into grassroots football.
Chelsea have previously entered sanction settlements in regard to this matter with the Premier League and UEFA.
A club statement read: "Chelsea Football Club is pleased to confirm that a final decision has been reached by The FA's judicial bodies in relation to historical regulatory matters that were self-reported by the club.
"In 2022, the club self-reported potential historical rule breaches to all applicable regulators. Following that report, it has worked openly and transparently with all regulators, including voluntarily and proactively disclosing many thousands of documents.
"As previously announced, settlement agreements have been entered into with UEFA and the Premier League concerning the same self-reported regulatory matters and topics that have been addressed before. The club is pleased to confirm that, now The FA process has concluded, this brings all regulatory proceedings against the club to a close.
"We are grateful to UEFA, the Premier League and The FA for their engagement with the club throughout these processes."
Earlier this year, Chelsea were handed the Premier League's biggest fine along with a one-year transfer ban, suspended for two years. The total fine of £10.75m related to secret payments made to agents worth £47.5m between 2011 and 2018, when Roman Abramovich was owner, and breaches of rules around registering youth players.
The total fine was going to be £20m but it was halved because the Blues self-reported and co-operated with the investigation.
The Premier League report named a number of transfers related to the secret payments, including deals for Hazard, Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic. The names of four players were redacted in the report.
Clubs must provide the FA and Premier League accurate financial information every year. The same applies for UEFA and clubs playing in their competition.
Chelsea were fined £8.64m by UEFA in July 2023 for incomplete financial reporting by the previous owners in 2018 and 2019. At least six suspect payments to offshore companies connected to transfers were identified.
'Some fans may be thinking Chelsea have got off lightly'
Analysis from Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol:
"On one hand, it's not good news for Chelsea because they've been hit with a fine and a suspended transfer ban, but I imagine a lot of people who are not Chelsea supporters will be thinking 'Chelsea have got off lightly, they really should have got a points deduction'.
"I'm sure fans of clubs who have been hit with points deductions in the past will be saying 'why did we get real punishments that affected our seasons when Chelsea are just getting a financial penalty which their owners can afford to pay?'
"Chelsea have been fined three times for offences that came to light and were reported by the new owners.
"Having said that, when you read stories and opinion on this, people feel Chelsea have got off lightly, but I'm sure their supporters and owners would say 'we got fined by UEFA, the Premier League and the FA. We've been punished three times for the same offences that we didn't commit. It was the previous ownership'."
