18/03/2026

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WEDNESDAY | MAR 18, 2026

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CHELSEA have been banned from signing academy players for nine months, but escaped a first-team sanction after being found guilty of making illegal payments during the Roman Abramovich era. They have, however, received a one-year suspended ban on signing players for the first team. The Blues have also been handed the biggest-ever fine dished out by the Premier League of £10.75 million (RM56m). Chelsea have accepted an independent commis sion’s ratification, following a league investigation, having self-reported potential breaches during the 2022 takeover by Clearlake and Todd Boehly. It was established that between 2011 and 2018, undis closed payments by third parties associated with the club were made to players, unregistered agents and third par ties. The Premier League released a statement confirming that Chelsea “has accepted, among other things, that the making of these payments, as well as the failure to disclose them to the League, constituted a breach of the require ment to act in good faith towards the League.” Transfers involving Eden Hazard, David Luis, Andre Schurrle, Ramires, Nemanja Matic, William and Samuel Eto’o have all been named. The BBC claim that had Chelsea not self-reported the historic payments, they would have received a full two-year transfer ban. A separate FA disciplinary process involving the alleged breaches of FA regulations remains ongoing. A Chelsea statement read: “Chelsea Football Club is pleased to confirm that the club has reached a settlement with the Premier League in relation to historical regulatory matters that were self-reported by the club in 2022. “As previously announced, the club voluntarily and pro actively disclosed to all applicable regulators potential his torical rule breaches, including incomplete financial report ing that took place over a decade ago. “During an extensive Premier League investigation, the club proactively disclosed many thousands of documents. Also, when requests for information were made by the Premier League, the club promptly provided comprehen sive responses and facilitated all lines of inquiry to support a complex and extremely thorough process. “Furthermore, during the investigation, additional evi dence was provided to the club by a third party regarding potential breaches of Premier League rules committed by a former employee in a small number of historical academy transactions. This information was immediately and proac tively self-reported to the Premier League. “The club wishes to make clear that following robust financial analysis by the Premier League, it was concluded that‘in no scenario would the club have exceeded the maxi mum allowable loss of £105 million over the three-year assessment period in the Rules.’ Accordingly there is no scenario in which the club could have been in breach of the applicable limits in the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules during the applicable seasons historically. “From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators. The club welcomes the recognition from the Premier League of its ‘exceptional cooperation’ and that ‘without those voluntary disclosures and the act of self-reporting, a number of the Premier League rule breaches may never have come to the attention of the League’. “The club accepts the terms of the settlement in full, details of which have been published on the Premier League website. For clarity, the nine-month restriction on registering Academy players applies immediately, but only to academy players who have previously been registered with another League or EFL club in the preceding 18 months. “It does not apply to current Chelsea players, interna tional players or players who are applying for their first reg istration at Under 9. “We are pleased that the matter is now concluded.” – Express Newspapers Chelsea slapped with transfer ban, mega fine after breaking PL rules

Harimau Malaya’s final chapter? Malaysia hit with 3-0 forfeits to send Vietnam to Asian Cup

M ALAYSIA’S 2027 Asian Cup hopes are over after the country was hit with 3-0 forfeits in two qualifiers for fielding ineligible players, the regional football body said Tuesday, sending Vietnam through instead. It was the latest and possibly final chap ter in a long-running scandal over seven foreign-born players who used forged documents to play for Malaysia’s national team. “The defendant fielded ineligible play ers in the relevant AFC Asian Cup 2027, (Qualifiers Final Round) matches,” the Asian Football Confederation said. Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said it will submit a written request to obtain the grounds of the decision from the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee before considering the next course of action regarding the matter.

“using falsified documents” and that none had Malaysian parentage or ancestry. Fifa suspended the players and slapped more than US$448,000 (RM1.75m) in fines. The FAM and players then appealed to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport. CAS at the beginning of the month slightly reduced sanctions against the seven players. It ruled that they may resume training with their clubs and participate in football related activities, though their one-year ban from official matches – backdated to September – remains in force. Fifa found that three of the players were originally Argentine, two Spanish, one Dutch and one Brazilian. The players are: Hector Hevel, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca and Joao Brandao Figueiredo. – AFP/Bernama

Harimau Malaya have accumulated only nine points in the qualifiers and risk losing their spot in the 2027 Asian Cup. Before the decision, Malaysia led the group with 15 points, followed by Vietnam with 12, Laos with three, and Nepal without any points. The verdict leaves Vietnam with an unassailable six-point lead in their qualify ing group for Saudi Arabia in 2027. There is one more round of matches, pitting Vietnam against Malaysia on March 31 in what is now a dead-rubber. Fifa in September launched a probe into claims that ineligible players featured in a 4-0 win over Vietnam in a qualifier in June last year. That result, and a 2-0 victory against Nepal in March last year, have now both been overturned. The world governing body found that the player naturalisations were obtained

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