Disciplinary action against Chelsea has drawn attention to several transfers involving African football legend and former Cameroon captain Samuel Eto‘o, who now serves as president of the Cameroonian Football Federation.
The English club has been hit with a £10 million fine and a suspended transfer ban after a series of undisclosed payments linked to player transfers between 2011 and 2018.
Investigators found that £47 million had been paid to unregistered intermediaries and third parties during that period.
Those transactions were not included in the official financial documents submitted to authorities.
In addition to the financial penalty, the club has also been handed a nine-month suspension on signing academy players, as well as an additional £750,000 fine related to youth registrations that took place between 2019 and 2022.
Several transfers were mentioned in the findings, including deals involving stars such as Eden Hazard, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
Among them was Eto’o’s move to the London club during the period when Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich owned the team under coach Jose Mourinho.
The issue which reportedly surfaced in 2022 when the club was acquired by a new ownership group led by American investors.
During the takeover process, internal checks uncovered the questionable payments.
The new leadership then reported the findings to football’s governing bodies, including the Premier League, The Football Association and UEFA.
It is understood that some of the payments connected to transfers had been kept outside the club’s official financial reports submitted at the time.
That breaches transparency rules required by football authorities.
Clubs participating in domestic and European competitions are expected to present complete and financial records every year.
While UEFA could only investigate transactions dating back to the 2017/18 season due to its five-year limitation rule, the Premier League’s regulations allow it to examine earlier cases as well.
