It is common knowledge that Chelsea FC’s men’s team has invested considerable financial resources in its squad in recent years. In the 2024/25 summer transfer window, this totalled around €276 million. But the women’s section has also caused a stir in the recent past. The most notable example is the signing of Naomi Girma from US club San Diego Wave in January. With this move, Chelsea women set a new world record for the highest transfer fee in women’s football history at €1.06 million.
However, in contrast to their male equivalent, this investment has lead to silverware for the club. Chelsea Women have won the Women’s Super League trophy four times in a row. The London club regularly play a role in the battle for the title in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Now the Blues are once again attracting attention. The club has sold its own women’s team to parent company BlueCo 22 and realised a profit of 153.5 million euros (taxes excluded) as a result. The British news outlet The Guardian reported this, among others.
chelsea women sold in order to register positive balance
Despite the high transfer expenditure, Chelsea FC can register a positive balance sheet at the end of the financial year. The club, co-owned by Todd Boehly, turned a 108 million euro loss into profit by selling the women’s team. These figures appear in the financial report of the club from west London.
This cost trick of selling your own team to yourself, so to speak, in order to improve your annual budget has already worked in the past. Back then, the Blues sold two hotels to the parent company. The club was able to raise around 91.5 million euros in this way, according to reports. In both cases, these were measures to comply with the Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) of the Premier League.
Women’s Teams: An easy means to bypass fair play regulations?
This campaign, despite its unusual nature, aims at raising the status of Chelsea women. On the one hand, it is about the value of the team itself. On the other, it’s about the internal role, supporting or even “saving” the men’s team by its value. For now, the matter should have no further impact on the women’s team. Chelsea have, however, instrumentalised their women’s section as a means to an end for a questionable boost to the club’s financial balance sheet.
The debate surrounding creative approaches to circumventing Financial Fair Play has so far mainly taken place in the men’s game. Chelsea’s cost trick once again raises the question of fair market value regulations. Other prominent clubs which have violated fair play rules include Manchester City, and Paris Saint-Germain. Whether or not the sanctions for these clubs have been appropriate or sufficient remains debatable at this point. FC Barcelona are also currently under attack, as the Catalans allegedly have knowingly deceived the Spanish league representatives in connection with the player licence for summer signing Dani Olmo. Further investigations are currently underway.
The incidents at Chelsea have also made women’s football part of the problem – more or less voluntarily. This reveals the disadvantages of having a women’s section directly linked to the management of the men’s team. The extent to which similar incidents will also occur with other women’s teams, or even originating from the women’s section, will be one of the major challenges for fair competition in women’s football in the future.
Text: Adriana Wehrens
