Chelsea has been handed fines totaling 10.75 million pounds ($14.3 million) as well as a suspended one-year ban from signing players for breaking financial rules during its previous ownership under Roman Abramovich, the Premier League said Monday.
Sanction agreements were reached after Chelsea self-reported potential breaches to the Football Association that came to light in 2022 when American investors Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital led a consortium to buy out Abramovich for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion).
The rules related to “financial reporting, third party investment and youth development,” the Premier League said.
“It was established that between 2011 and 2018, undisclosed payments by third parties associated with the club were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties,” the league said in a statement.
“These payments were not disclosed to the football regulatory authorities at the time, including the Premier League.”
According to the sanction agreement, the payments to unregistered agents totaled more than 23 million pounds ($30 million) and were in relation to the signings of players including Eden Hazard, David Luiz, Ramires, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
The undisclosed payments “were made for the benefit of Chelsea,” the statement said, “and should have been treated as having been made by the club.”
They “constituted a breach of the requirement to act in good faith towards the league,” the competition said.
Chelsea accepted the fine, which was ratified by an independent commission, and was given an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and a suspended one-year transfer ban for first-team players.
No points deduction was applied, however.
The club said it was “pleased” to reach a settlement with the Premier League.
“From the outset of this process,” Chelsea said in its own statement, “the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators.”
The league noted Chelsea's “proactive self-reporting, admissions of breach and exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation acted as significant mitigating factors" and helped reduce the fine by around 50%.
It also said it was satisfied that Chelsea “in no scenario” would have breached the league's profitability and sustainability rules in those periods if the payments made had been properly included in the club’s accounts.
Chelsea's new owners have been fined on multiple occasions by UEFA for financial breaches.
In 2023, during the first year of new regime, Chelsea paid UEFA a 10 million euros (then $11.8 million) fine to settle irregularities committed while the club was owned by Abramovich, who was forced to sell the club after Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. That was also self-reported by the club.
Last year, Chelsea was fined 20 million euros (then $23.6 million) for failing to approach break-even and a further 11 million euros ($13 million) for spending more than an 80% set limit of its revenue on so-called “squad cost” such as transfers and wages.
A separate disciplinary process conducted by the Football Association is ongoing and relates to the same breaches for which Chelsea has been punished by the Premier League.
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Chelsea players celebrate after a goal during the fifth round FA Cup soccer match between Wrexham and Chelsea in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chaotic weather coast to coast in the U.S. — from unusual heat in California to damaging winds around Washington, D.C. — put over 100 million people in the path of extreme conditions on Monday.
Storms across the nation's eastern half forced airlines to cancel more than 2,000 flights nationwide Monday, and many schools closed early in the mid-Atlantic states where high winds and tornadoes were in the forecast.
Blizzards buried parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota while torrential rains flooded homes and washed out roads in Hawaii.
In Washington, the House of Representatives postponed votes because of difficulty traveling with inclement weather.
Airport delays and cancellations could pile up Monday in some of the nation’s largest airports — including those in Washington, New York and Chicago.
“This is what happens in March and April,” said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “It’s a clash in the air masses. Winter, not wanting to let go from the North, and then obviously the sun’s getting a little stronger, it’s warming up in the South.”
The storm system that dropped snow by the foot in the Midwest is barreling toward the East Coast with dangerously high winds and potential for “producing strong and long track tornadoes,” the weather service warned Monday.
“Today, it’s the wind that’s really the threat,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini.
A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely to experience the greatest damaging winds Monday afternoon, the weather service said. That could include Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and the nation’s capital.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency alerts on their phones ahead of expected wind gusts topping 70 mph (112 kph).
Beyond the threat to lives and property, “whether it’s wind gusts from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, you’re looking at several major airports being impacted,“ said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys.
Blizzard conditions persisted Monday in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan, where the storm brought as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow by morning. It was still snowing in the region. Additional snowfall of a foot (30 centimeters) to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow was expected in upper Michigan, along with gusty winds, on Monday, the National Weather Service said. Schools were closed in a number of communities Monday in both states, including Milwaukee and Marquette, Michigan.
Lower snow accumulations in places such as Chicago and Milwaukee were expected to create trouble for commuters on Monday, Roys said.
Jim Allen, 45, who lives on the Upper Peninsula, said his family stocked up on necessities. “We’re basically prepared to just kind of hunker down for a few days if we need to,” he said.
The thousands of flights canceled nationwide early Monday included more than 350 at Chicago O’Hare International and another 200 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight disruptions. More than 2,500 more flights were delayed nationwide early Monday. Those disruptions came a day after more than 3,200 cancellations on Sunday.
Unrelenting rains triggered landslides and flooded homes and farmland in Hawaii over the weekend.
Some areas of Maui received more than 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a social media post.
Resident and real estate broker Jesse Wald, who recorded video of a coastal road’s collapse, said parts of the road were flooded by mud and sediment.
“In the 20 years I’ve been here I’ve never seen this much rain,” he said.
Forecasters said the East Coast storms were expected leave sharply colder weather in its wake.
By Tuesday morning, wind chills below freezing were expected to reach the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle with warnings in effect across the Southeast and in part of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas, forecasters warned.
To the north, rain was expected to change over to snow behind the cold front with heavy snow possible in the central Appalachians of West Virginia.
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Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Julie Walker in New York, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Gary Fields in Washington and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed.
Victor Alomoto who is from Ecuador cleared the sidewalk for the River Valley Church in the North Loop Pedestrians during the snow storm in Minneapolis, Minn., on Sunday, March 15, 2026.(Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Ogo Akpati and his son Brycson Akpati, 3, braved the strong winds and had fun sliding down a hill in Central Park Sunday, March 15,2026 in Brooklyn Park, MN. (Jerry Holt/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Fans walk through snowy streets before an NHL hockey game between the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs, Sunday, March 15, 2026, in St. Paul. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
People drive on a snow-covered freeway during a snow storm Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Workers clear snow off the ground Sunday, March 15, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
