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The UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) has handed down millions of euros in financial sanctions to several of Europe's top clubs after concluding its annual review of financial sustainability compliance, with Juventus, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Chelsea among the highest-profile teams punished.
The decisions, announced by UEFA's First Chamber of the CFCB, follow an assessment of clubs competing in UEFA competitions during the 2025-26 season and focus on breaches of the governing body's football earnings rule, squad cost rule and financial reporting requirements.
Juventus and Newcastle agree settlement deals
Juventus and Newcastle United received the most significant sanctions under UEFA's football earnings rule, which was assessed for the first time using a three-year financial cycle covering the financial years ending in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Rather than receiving immediate sporting sanctions, both clubs entered into three-year settlement agreements with UEFA designed to bring them back into compliance by the end of the 2028-29 season.
Juventus was fined a total of €20 million, with €14 million suspended subject to meeting agreed financial targets. Newcastle received a €10 million fine, of which €7 million is conditional.
Under the agreements, both clubs will face restrictions on registering new players for UEFA competitions, with the severity of those restrictions dependent on whether they achieve annual financial milestones. Failure to meet the agreed targets could trigger harsher penalties, including stricter squad registration limits or even exclusion from future UEFA competitions.
Nice, Santa Clara, Astana and Partizan also sanctioned
French side OGC Nice and Portuguese club Santa Clara were also found to have breached the football earnings rule but successfully demonstrated that their financial shortcomings were temporary.
Nice was fined €2 million, with €1.7 million suspended, while Santa Clara received a €1 million fine, of which €850,000 is conditional upon future compliance during the 2026-27 assessment period.
FC Astana and FK Partizan were deemed to have committed only minor breaches and were fined €100,000 and €200,000 respectively.
Aston Villa and Strasbourg receive largest squad cost fines
UEFA also penalised nine clubs for exceeding the permitted squad cost ratio of 70 percent during the 2025 calendar year.
French club RC Strasbourg received the largest financial penalty, a €25 million fine, with €12 million suspended. Premier League side Aston Villa was fined €22.5 million, including €15 million that is conditional.
Both clubs were additionally hit with restrictions on registering new players on their UEFA List A squads for the 2026-27 campaign after being judged to have committed significant breaches.
Turkish club Fenerbahçe was fined €7 million, while Fiorentina received a €6 million penalty.
Chelsea, which was also sanctioned under last season's financial rules, was fined €3 million, with €2 million suspended after UEFA acknowledged improvements in the club's squad cost ratio.
Newcastle's financial penalties increased further after receiving an additional €3 million fine for breaching the squad cost rule, while Nottingham Forest was fined €2.5 million.
AEK Athens (€500,000) and OGC Nice (€450,000) completed the list of sanctioned clubs.
UEFA noted that Aston Villa and Chelsea benefited from demonstrating progress in reducing their wage-to-revenue ratios, with portions of their fines suspended provided those improvements continue throughout 2026.
Meanwhile, Bologna and Serie A champions Napoli also exceeded the 70 percent threshold but escaped sanctions after their financial surpluses under the football earnings rule fully offset the breach under UEFA regulations.
Reporting breach for Vardar Skopje
Elsewhere, North Macedonian club FK Vardar Skopje was fined €250,000 after UEFA determined it had submitted incomplete financial reporting information before correcting the issue in its 2025 accounts.
The club was also warned that repeating the same offence within the next three seasons would result in exclusion from the next UEFA club competition for which it qualifies.
UEFA's financial sustainability framework
The latest rulings form part of UEFA's Financial Sustainability Regulations, which replaced Financial Fair Play with a broader framework aimed at improving clubs' long-term financial health.
The football earnings rule limits acceptable financial losses over a rolling three-year period, while the squad cost rule caps spending on player wages, transfers and agent fees at 70 percent of club revenue.
UEFA has gradually introduced the new regulations over recent seasons, with the governing body increasingly using settlement agreements, conditional fines and squad registration restrictions to encourage clubs to return to compliance while avoiding more severe sporting sanctions.
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash / Isaac Maffeis, Pexels / Oleksandr Plakhota
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