Aston Villa's sporting penalty imposed by UEFA explained
Aston Villa's president of football operations, Monchi
Aston Villa's president of football operations, Monchi
(Image: Getty Images)
Aston Villa are comfortable with the sanctions imposed by UEFA after the club was found to have breached financial regulations.
UEFA handed Villa both financial and sporting penalties after they failed to comply with football earnings rules for the 2023/24 season and breached the squad cost ratio rules during the 2024 calendar year.
As a result, Villa will pay an unconditional fine of €11 million. They have also been warned that they face a conditional fine of €5 million per year for the next three years if further breaches occur.
The club has been involved in positive and constructive discussions with UEFA since Christmas and has no issues complying with the European football body’s requirements.
Villa’s sanctions also include a sporting measure related to their transfer activity.
The club has agreed not to register any new players on its List A squad for UEFA competitions unless the List A transfer balance is positive.
UEFA defines the List A transfer balance as the difference between cost savings from outgoing players and the new costs from incoming players at the applicable deadline for submitting the List A squad.
This essentially means that the cost of players added to the List A squad must not exceed those being removed, but Villa do not view this as an issue.
For Villa, this penalty applies unconditionally in the 2025/26 season. It will apply conditionally in 2026/27 if the club records a football earnings deficit for the 2025 reporting period.
The condition will also apply in 2027/28 if Villa exceeds their 2026 financial targets, and again in 2028/29 if they exceed the final target by less than €20 million.
A similar sporting punishment has been given to Chelsea. However, the key difference is that it applies to Chelsea unconditionally for the next two seasons, regardless of their financial compliance.
Villa chiefs Monchi and Damian Vidagany are confident that UEFA’s rulings will not impact their ability to provide Unai Emery with a strong squad capable of competing both domestically and in Europe next season.
Newly appointed President of Business Operations, Francesco Calvo, is also lending his expertise and full support as Villa work through UEFA’s requirements.