Chelsea‘s Financial Fair Play situation will reportedly be unpredictable if they do not qualify for the Champions League.
Graham Potter‘s side are currently 10 points off the top four and a place in next year’s tournament is looking unlikely as things stand.
Chelsea have earned huge amounts through European success, winning both the Europa League and the Champions League twice in the last decade.
Chelsea’s Financial Fair Play situation will reportedly be unpredictable if they do not qualify for the Champions League
Graham Potter’s side currently sit 10th in the Premier League and are ten points off the top four
However, Europe’s premier competition is far more lucrative and Swiss Ramble reports that not qualifying could be detrimental to their finances.
Chelsea earned around £106m for winning the Champions League in 2021 and around £80m for reaching the quarter-finals the following season.
They are estimated to make a further £81m TV money from this year’s Champions League, if they reach the same stage by beating Borussia Dortmund in the last-16.
Since Todd Boehly took Chelsea off Roman Abramovich, he has not been afraid to spend.
The £88m signing of Mykhailo Mudryk took Chelsea’s transfer spending to a record level in Premier League history, at £445million surpassing the £328m spent by Manchester City in 2017-18.
The Premier League side have splashed out more than £400m under co-owner Todd Boehly
Under Premier League FFP rules, clubs are allowed to lose £105m over a rolling three-year period, but there are adjustments for virtue spending areas such as infrastructure spend, women’s teams, academies and community projects.
In addition, further allowances have been granted following Covid and the impact it had on clubs playing matches behind closed doors and the increased costs of Covid compliance.
UEFA’s rules are slightly different, with new financial and sustainability rules introduced in the summer of 2022 that allow clubs to lose up to €60m (£53m) over three years, but the virtue spending allowances are ignored.
Chelsea’s buys under Boehly
Raheem Sterling – £45m plus £10m potential add-ons (five-year contract)
Kalidou Koulibaly – £33.8m (four-year contract)
Marc Cucurella – £55m plus £7m potential add-ons (six-year contract)
Wesley Fofana – £70m plus £10m potential add-ons (seven-year contract)
Carney Chukwuemeka – £20m (six-year contract)
Gabriel Slonina – £12m
Cesare Casadei – £12.6m plus £4.2m potential add-ons (six-year contract)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. – £10.6m (two-year contract)
Denis Zakaria – loan, £2.6m fee plus £30m option to buy
Mykhailo Mudryk – £88m (8.5-year contract)
Benoit Badashile – £33.7m (7.5-year contract)
Joao Felix – loan, £9m fee
Andrey Santos – £11m
David Datro Fofana – £10m (7.5-year contract)
Boehly has been dishing out long-term contracts, including Mudryk on an eight-and-a-half-year deal, Fofana on a seven-year, Badiashile on a six-and-a-half year contract, Cucurella for six years and Sterling for five.
This lowers the annual cost of each player – which puts them at less risk of breaching FFP rules.
Chelsea could improve their FFP by offloading some of their players – with big-signings like Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz linked with exits.
But they could make matters worse by continuing to spend – as they continue to be linked with Brighton’s Moises Caicedo.
