Aston Villa have been fined 22.5 million euros (£19.4m) by UEFA for breaching financial sustainability regulations during the 2025-26 season, with 15 million euros (£12.9m) suspended pending continued compliance over a three-year period. The club will also face restrictions on registering new players for next season's Champions League campaign.
UEFA confirms registration restrictions
UEFA has confirmed to BirminghamLive exactly what the restriction means for Villa. "The club will not be permitted to register any new players on its List A for UEFA club competitions unless the List A balance is positive," UEFA said. "The List A balance is defined as the difference between the costs associated with departing players ("cost savings") and the costs associated with incoming players ("new costs"), calculated at each applicable deadline for the submission of the club's List A."
List A is the primary official squad list of a maximum of 25 senior players that a club submits to UEFA before the tournament begins. This means Villa can only sign new players if they first sell or release players to free up sufficient cost savings.
Other Premier League clubs also fined
Chelsea have been fined 3 million euros (£2.6m), of which 2 million euros (£1.7m) is suspended. Nottingham Forest must pay 2.5 million euros (£2.2m), and Newcastle 3 million euros (£2.6m). All four clubs breached the squad cost rule by reporting a squad cost ratio above 70% for the 2025 calendar year.
A UEFA statement read: "The CFCB (Club Financial Control Body) First Chamber found that Aston Villa FC (ENG), Chelsea FC (ENG), Newcastle United FC (ENG), Nottingham Forest FC (ENG), OGC Nice (FRA), RC Strasbourg (FRA), AEK Athens (GRE), ACF Fiorentina (ITA) and Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) breached the squad cost rule by reporting a squad cost ratio above 70% for the 2025 calendar year."
Fines calculated proportionally
As a result, each club was imposed a fine calculated in proportion to the percentage points above the defined limit and the size of the club's squad cost excess. Clubs having committed a significant breach are also subject to a restriction on the registration of new players on their List A for the 2026/27 UEFA club competition season.
Regarding Aston Villa and Chelsea, which had already been sanctioned in the previous season, the CFCB First Chamber took into consideration the improving trend in their squad cost ratio between 2024 and 2025 in line with projections submitted as part of their settlement agreement. As a result, part of the fine is conditional upon the clubs continuing to significantly decrease their squad cost ratio in 2026.
