Chelsea avoided Premier League financial rules penalties by selling their women`s team to their own parent company for almost £200 million.
Although the complete financial details for the year ending June 30, 2024, are not yet public, Chelsea announced a pre-tax profit of £128.4 million, a significant improvement from the £90.1 million loss the year before.
In January, Premier League officials confirmed that no team had exceeded the allowed financial losses of £105 million over three seasons, which meant Chelsea`s finances were within the rules.
Chelsea stated that their financial results were boosted by profits from player transfers and the sale of Chelsea Women Ltd., generating a profit of £198.7 million from selling subsidiaries.
The exact amount from the sale of the women`s team to BlueCo 22 isn`t known, but it`s believed to be the main source of this extra income.
This follows a similar move last season when Chelsea sold two hotels located at their Stamford Bridge stadium to the same parent company.
Over two seasons, Chelsea has made £275 million through these internal sales of assets to BlueCo, the company primarily owned by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. This type of profit is called `inter-group accounting profit`.
Since the ownership change in 2022, after Roman Abramovich was required to sell his shares, Chelsea has spent over £1 billion on new players.
Last season alone, their spending exceeded £400 million on players like Moises Caiceido, Nicolas Jackson, Cole Palmer, Christopher Nkunku, and Romeo Lavia.
Because Chelsea can spread these transfer fees over five years (`amortization`), only £80 million of last season`s spending was counted in the annual accounts, along with a similar amount from previous signings.
Chelsea also earned nearly £240 million from selling players, including £65 million from Kai Havertz`s transfer to Arsenal. This resulted in a reported profit of £152.5 million from player sales.
These financial gains occurred even though overall revenue decreased by £44 million to £468.5 million because the men`s team did not participate in the Champions League.
This news follows reports that BlueCo 22 recently raised £65 million by selling company shares in proportions reflecting the ownership structure of the club.
Fans expressed their disappointment about this financial strategy.
Fans described the club as a “hedge fund with shin pads,” criticized the approach as “not sustainable,” and joked about selling increasingly trivial assets to themselves in the future to manipulate finances.
