Most of Chelsea’s misconduct centred on a period roughly between 2013 and 2017, although the charges span an eight-year window. That era coincided with Jose Mourinho’s return and a trophy-rich run for the club: Premier League titles in 2014–15 and 2016–17, FA Cups in 2011–12 and 2017–18, the EFL Cup in 2014–15 and the Europa League in 2018–19.
Many of the players implicated by the documents became important first-team figures. Chelsea paid £32m to sign Eden Hazard from Lille; he went on to score 110 goals in 352 appearances, earned four PFA Team of the Year inclusions and was PFA Young Player of the Year in 2013–14. Willian made 339 appearances, Nemanja Matić logged 121 in his second spell, David Luiz featured 248 times across two spells, and Ramires played 251 matches. By contrast, André Schürrle managed 65 appearances over two seasons and never found consistency, while Samuel Eto’o scored 12 goals in 35 games before leaving after a single campaign. Five of those players started Chelsea’s 6–0 win over Arsenal on 22 March 2014, a match in which Eto’o, Schürrle and Hazard all scored.
Given the on-field success tied to signings involving secret payments, questions arose over whethe
