Aston Villa hit with tough UEFA fine as four Premier League clubs face penalties
UEFA has fined Aston Villa the second highest amount ever for a European club, with four other Premier League teams also facing penalties.
Aston Villa, who will play in the 2026 Europa League, have been hit with a £19.4 million fine for breaking the squad cost rule for 2025. But £12.9 million of that fine is paused, as long as they follow the rules for the next three years. This started after their first fine in July last year.
Just a year ago, Villa were fined £9.5 million by UEFA for breaking financial rules. On top of the fine, Villa will have limits on signing new players for next season’s Champions League, with more details coming soon.
Three other Premier League teams—Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, and Newcastle United—have also been fined for breaking the squad cost rule. Chelsea has to pay £2.6 million, with £1.7 million suspended. Forest’s fine is £2.2 million, and Newcastle’s is £2.6 million.
Newcastle also settled an issue for overspending on UEFA’s football earnings limit, paying £8.6 million, with £6 million suspended if they follow the rules going forward.
Meanwhile, Strasbourg, owned by Chelsea’s BlueCo group, received the biggest fine in Europe at £21.5 million, with £10.3 million suspended, for going over the 70% squad-cost limit.
These rules say that clubs in the Champions League, Europa League, or Conference League can’t spend more than 70% of their income on players.
UEFA said: “For Aston Villa and Chelsea, which were already fined last season, we saw their squad cost ratio improving between 2024 and 2025, as promised. Because of this, part of the fine will only apply if they don’t keep lowering their ratio in 2026.”
Chelsea added: “After open talks with UEFA, the financial body saw our squad cost ratio getting better in 2025. But since we barely went over the 70% limit, we will pay a fine.”