Chelsea face the prospect of playing no European football next season, even if they gain entry to the UEFA Europa League or Europa Conference League through their Premier League finish.
Should the Blues fail to get into the top five and therefore qualify for the Champions League, it could have huge ramifications for next season. It looks increasingly unlikely that Liam Rosenior's side will catch up to the teams in front of them as they currently sit sixth, seven points behind Liverpool.
Meanwhile, they only sit six points above 14th-placed Newcastle United. That means there's no guarantee the west Londoners will finish in any European spot this season.
Chelsea Face Prospect of European Ban Next Season
Liam Rosenior
The financial implications of missing out on European qualification completely could be significant. Chelsea have already had to settle with the Premier League and UEFA due to various financial breaches in recent months.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning, financial expert Stefan Borson has claimed that the Premier League giants could voluntarily breach their settlement with UEFA and take a year-long ban from Europe as a result.
"The Champions League thing is obviously a very significant issue for a club with their [Chelsea's] cost base and with their losses," he said.
Borson then continued: "It seems to me that you have to strip out all of the player amortisation, which is about £216million this year, so sure, if you strip out one of the biggest lines in your profit and loss, then maybe, you’re operationally profitable.
"But even then, it’s a challenge going forward as they won’t have the Club World Cup money, and if they drop out of the Champions League, obviously they’ll also drop £80m of UEFA prize money…"
The bigger issue arises if they only get into the third-tier European competition, according to the money expert: "The big issue they’re going to have is if they fall into the Conference League.
"They’ve got a very, very challenging situation with the settlement they agreed with UEFA, if they’re not in the Champions League.
"That is a settlement agreement, which I’ll just speculate now… I think there’s a chance that if they fall into the Conference League, or even Europa League, that they take the decision to breach the settlement agreement and to take a ban like Juventus did in 2023."
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Before suggesting some big-name players may have to be sold, Borson added: "So they’d admit the breach by more than €20m, they pay the fine, the settlement agreement is ripped up, they drop out of Europe for a year, because who wants Conference League anyway, and they reset the settlement agreement going forward."