Chelsea struggled to compete for trophies during the 2023/24 season with their biggest achievement being qualification for Europa Conference League.
The London club ended sixth on the Premier League table but Man United FA Cup victory will see the Red Devils take their place in Europa League and Chelsea will play the Conference League.
However, things are about to change. Despite qualifying for European football for next season, Chelsea may decline their place in the Europa Conference League.
Chelsea may opt to stay out of the competition due to UEFA’s stricter financial regulations compared to the Premier League, according to The Telegraph’s Matt Law.
The London club financial troubles are no secret – and the fact that UEFA’s financial sustainability regulations (FSR) are much stricter than those set out by Premier League chiefs provides a cloud over the club’s European exploits in 2024/25.
Law, The Telegraph’s football news correspondent, suggested back in April – on the ‘London Is Blue’ podcast – that Chelsea would not ‘automatically accept’ the invitation given that playing in Europe next season could land them in hot water.
UEFA’s set-in-stone rules only allow clubs to have losses of up to £68.5 million (€80m) for the 2024/25 monitoring period, which looks at a two-year period between 2022 and 2024. Chelsea exceeded that figure with a pre-tax loss of £90.1 million.
As a result, the Premier League outfit would only be allowed to endure a deficit of £68.5 million over the previous two years in order to comply with UEFA’s regulations. For reference: in England, clubs are allowed to lose £105 million over three years.
It’s left to see how Chelsea will navigate through the issue as they begin their Conference League adventure against the likes of Heidenheim, Legia Warsaw and Maccabi Haifa.
Chelsea will discover their play-off opponents on 5 August and then play them between 22 and 29 August to discover their fate.
