Chelsea received a major blow in the form of a €31m (£26.9m) fine back in July, after failing to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. A further €60m (£51.2m) fine was also in play if the Blues did not make the required adjustments. Fortunately, it looks like they have been successful in doing that.
As part of their settlement agreement, Enzo Maresca's side were required to record a positive transfer balance from players on last season's 'List A' from their Conference League registrations. And a failure to do so would make any newly arrived players unable to play in the Champions League this season.
However, Chelsea broke the Premier League record for player exits in a summer transfer window, having sanctioned several departures over the past few weeks. More importantly, they were able to negotiate moves for a number of their 'List A' players from the previous season.
Noni Madueke, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix, Nicolas Jackson and several others left the club. The Blues spent £296 million on new signings, while they raised £314 million through departures, allowing them to meet UEFA's pre-agreed requirements.
Chelsea handed major Champions League boost by UEFA
On Wednesday, Chelsea submitted their squad for their upcoming Champions League campaign. The next day, Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail reported that it had cleared UEFA's financial checks in a major boost.
According to Gill, a statement from UEFA read:
"The squad list submitted fulfilled the criteria of the settlement agreement and it was therefore already reviewed and approved before publication on UEFA's website."
👍🏼 Chelsea’s submitted Champions League squad passed UEFA’s financial checks
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) September 4, 2025
Statement from UEFA: “The squad list submitted fulfilled the criteria of the settlement agreement and it was therefore already reviewed and approved before publication on UEFA's website.” https://t.co/EuVqAdvFX8
Chelsea's first Champions League match is in just under two weeks, away to Bayern Munich, where they will face Jackson following his dramatic deadline day move to Bavaria. Of course, that is going to be a tough test for the Blues.
Surprisingly, Facundo Buonanotte did not make the squad, even though he stated at his Chelsea announcement that he was eager to participate in the Champions League. One can only hope that Cole Palmer recovers in time to feature on the night.