CHELSEA’S controversial sale of the club’s women’s team to its parent company has YET to be passed by Prem legal chiefs.
In their 2023-24 accounts, partially disclosed on Monday, the Stamford Bridge club disclosed it had raised £198m from the “repositioning of Chelsea Football Club Women” as part of a “disposal of subsidiaries” to parent company BlueCo 22.
While the precise sum has not been confirmed, it is understood that the value of the Chelsea women’s side was potentially in excess of £150m.
Another asset believed to be involved was the Kingsmeadow former home of Kingstonians and AFC Wimbledon that is the regular home of Sonia Bompastor’s WSL leaders.
The deals helped turn a £90m loss in 2022-23 into a £128m pre-tax profit last season.
But while there is not thought to be any serious prospect of Chelsea being charged with a PSR breach for last term, the club confirmed its valuation of the deal has yet to be approved by the League.
Discussions are continuing, with questions over whether the deal between two “associated parties” was at “fair market value”.
Europe’s most successful women’s side, Lyon Feminin, was sold to a US conglomerate in a deal which valued the club at around £45m in 2023.
That value was dwarfed by the £190m auction price of the Los Angeles-based Angel City NWSL franchise in September.
It is likely that Chelsea will be able to argue that a nine-figure sum is legitimate but they may be forced to scale back the claimed value – although that is unlikely to threaten their positive PSR position over the three year cycle.
Chelsea’s official statement over the sale read: “The profit for the year before taxation was £128.4m compared with a loss of £90.1m for the prior year as the club benefitted from increased profit on disposal of player registrations and repositioning of Chelsea Football Club Women Ltd.
“This new approach will ensure CFCW has dedicated resources, management and commercial leadership solely focused on the growth and success of the women’s team.
“Overall revenue in the year fell to £468.5m due to the men’s team not competing in the Champions League.
“However, the club’s broadcasting receipts benefited from an improved sixth-place finish in the Premier League and semi-final and final appearances in the FA Cup and League Cup respectively.
“There was a decrease in operational costs in the year, to offset the fall in revenue resulting in a stable operating loss in comparison to the previous year.
“The women’s team reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the second consecutive year and were champions of the Women’s Super League to further boost the broadcasting receipts.
“Matchday revenue increased to £80.1m as an average attendance of approximately 40,000 was maintained, and there were three more women’s team matches held at Stamford Bridge during the year.
“The growth in commercial revenue to £225.3m was driven by an increase in player loan income and strong sales of non-matchday activities, including stadium tours and merchandise sales.
“Decreased operating expenses, including matchday and non-matchday costs, profits on disposal of player registrations of £152.5m and a profit on disposal of subsidiaries of £198.7m, led to the group recording an overall net profit of £129.6m after tax.”
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