Chelsea FC losing the 2026 FA Cup final 1-0 to Manchester City will have been disappointing for the club’s fans. But perhaps the result was not hugely surprising, as the London club hasn’t had a brilliant season on the pitch. Off the pitch, you could argue it’s been even worse. Moments of anguish have included the expensive sacking in April 2026 of manager Liam Rosenior after just 106 days in the job. He was the side’s fifth manager in three years. A month before that, Chelsea was fined over £10 million by the Premier League for breaching financial regulations – the biggest fine the league has ever imposed. Added to this, Chelsea then also posted the largest ever pre-tax financial loss in Premier League history. This amounted to £262.2 million in the 2024-25 season. The US consortium known as BlueCo, the club’s current owners, started combing through the financial books and found evidence of breaches of Premier League regulations which the club itself reported. Part of this related to just over £47 million worth of undisclosed payments to unregistered agents and others as part of their plans to buy in new players. According to league rules, all payments relating to transfers need to go through the club books for reasons of fairness. Leaving tens of millions of pounds out of the records means that the club shows fewer expenses than it should. This in turn could potentially shield it from breaking the league’s “profitability and sustainability” rules, which are designed to force clubs into being financially sound businesses. The fine of £10.75m is no small matter. It brings Chelsea closer to the PSR limit for the coming year, leaving more belt-tightening around spending decisions. At the time, the club said in a statement: “From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators.” But it is not just Chelsea that is affected. Football is a highly interconnected industry. While clubs compete against each other, they are also very dependent on each other for matches and for players. They also often suffer losses, with cash flow issues and other financial problems common. So having a competitor spend more than they should can negatively affect other clubs. Chelsea have also led the way in doing clever things within accounting rules, which others have followed. In 2023, the club started offering new players very long-term contracts which allowed them to spread their declared costs over a longer period. So for example, a player bought for £90 million might be given a nine-year contract, meaning the annual cost can be recorded as £10 million. Roman Abramovich, the former owner, sold the club in 2022 as a “distressed asset”, meaning that it needed to be sold quickly. This was because Abramovich’s assets had been frozen over his links to Vladimir Putin following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When the new owners bought the club, they started to review the financial situation and found the breaches of Premier League regulations. The club’s current situation is a result of the actions taken by the previous owner and the new owners are trying to fix the issues. The future of Chelsea FC is uncertain, but one thing is clear: the club needs to find a way to overcome its financial struggles and start performing well on the pitch again. The club’s fans are waiting for a turnaround, and it’s up to the owners and the management to make it happen. The financial struggles of Chelsea FC are a reminder that even the biggest clubs can face difficulties, and it’s up to them to find a way to overcome them.