Aston Villa and Chelsea were both fined by UEFA last summer(Image: Getty Images)
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire says that Aston Villa could be set to breach UEFA’s financial rules for a second year running. Villa were fined in the region of £9.5million last year as a result of a separate breach in 2024.
The breach came due to a failure to comply with the governing body’s targets. Villa were hit with a two-tiered penalty, the first being £4.3m for breaching the earnings limit and the second reaching £5.2m for non-compliance with UEFA’s squad cost rule.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the Villa Park club were expected to fall foul of UEFA’s squad cost rule once again. The regulation imposes financial penalties if a club’s outlay on player wages, transfers and agents is over 70 per cent of its revenue.
It’s believed that Villa are in no danger of breaching their initial settlement deal agreed last year, which would lead to more serious sanctions. However, despite complying with the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability rules, the club are facing a possible new punishment.
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Revenues have dropped from competing in the Champions League to the Europa League. Now, Maguire has revealed that they could face another fine for a new breach.
Speaking on The Overlap’s Fan Debate, he said: “There’s a chance that Villa could be in breach of the UEFA rules. Both Villa and Chelsea breached those rules at the start of the season and they’ve had to follow a very strict business plan. There’s a danger of Villa failing that again, which could mean they’ll get another fine, rather than a points deduction.”
Villa’s success at complying with the domestic financial rules was helped by the registration of the £55m they received for selling the women’s team to their parent company. Such related-party deals are not allowed to be declared as revenue by UEFA.
Chelsea also sold their women’s team to a sister company last year, helping them stay within the Premier League financial limits. The Blues posted a pre-tax profit of £128.4m in June 2024, which included the £200m sale of the women’s team.
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They also sold two hotels to a related company to comply with the league’s rules. Villa and Everton have also followed suit in a bid to raise their revenues. “Those sorts of issues were prohibited under those UEFA rules, but they were allowed at the start of the season under the Premier League rules,” Maguire added.
“Under the SCR (squad cost ratio), you cannot include sales of women teams, real estate and other unusual assets to yourself. So the Premier League has come more in line with the UEFA rules.
“Although it was a struggle to get that through. We’ve seen both Aston Villa and Everton both sell their women’s teams to themselves over the course of the last 12 months. It’s within the rules, it’s perfectly acceptable.”
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