Chelsea and Aston Villa are both poised to face penalties for violating UEFA's financial regulations, while La Liga heavyweights Barcelona is braced for harsher sanctions.
The two Premier League outfits are anticipated to be fined by the governing body of European football for first-time infringements. Chelsea reportedly breached UEFA's financial loss limits for the previous season, as it was not permitted to include the income generated from selling its women's team.
The team was sold to sister company Blueco 22 Midco Limited for a record-breaking £200 million ($271.8 million), a move that raised some eyebrows.
Unlike the Premier League, UEFA does not allow clubs to declare income from asset sales to sister companies. Chelsea announced in April that it had 'entered into discussions regarding mitigating factors affecting their regulatory submissions.'
Villa is also believed to have exceeded the limits, as reported by the Times. UEFA permits teams to incur losses up to €200M ($228.8M) over a three-year span.
Clubs can make deductions for expenditures on youth and women's teams, as well as stadium and facility costs. Last year, Villa was slapped with a £52,000 ($70,600) fine for late submission of their accounts. This comes as another setback after Unai Emery's squad narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification.
Aston Villa and Chelsea could both be in hot water
Aston Villa and Chelsea could both be in hot water (Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
Barcelona seems to be in even hotter water now. Back in October, the La Liga champions lost their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a €500,000 ($571,340)) fine from UEFA for misreporting profits.
The CAS panel deemed the punishment 'actually relatively mild.' The CAS decision also cautioned Barca that it could face 'harsher' penalties for further infractions.
"The CFCB... highlights that a similar breach by the club in the 2023-24 monitoring process would constitute a case of recidivism and would be addressed by the imposition of a harsher disciplinary measure on FC Barcelona," the ruling read.
FC Barcelona players celebrate the La Liga EA Sports 2024/2025 championship during the La Liga EA Sports match between FC Barcelona and Villarreal CF at Olimpic Llus Companys in Barcelona, Spain, on May 18, 2025. (Photo by Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Barcelona celebrates winning La Liga (Image: Gongora/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Potential sanctions for Barcelona might involve a cap on the number of players they can register for the upcoming Champions League season or possibly even a points deduction. Despite their well-known fiscal troubles, sporting director Deco is adamant that they won't need to offload any star players during the summer transfer window.
"I knew it would be difficult when I joined with the financial rules - it is not a financial problem, but the financial fair play rules in Spain are more difficult than the Premier League and in other countries," Deco explained to BBC Sport.
"It is a problem for a lot of clubs, you just hear about Barca because we are a big club. You need to work with it, see how you can improve the team and the combination of La Masia [their academy] players and experienced players has been important."