Forest and Newcastle among teams fined by Uefa over squad-cost

[Getty Images] Four Premier League clubs have been given financial penalties for breaching the Uefa's squad-cost rule for 2025. Aston Villa have been fined 22.5m euros (£19.4m) for a "significant breach", while Chelsea have been fined 3m euros (£2.6m), of which 2m euros (£1.7m) is suspended. Nottingham Forest must pay 2.5m euros (£2.2m), with Newcastle United to pay 3m euros (£2.6m). The Magpies have also reached a settlement for an overspend in relation to Uefa's football earnings threshold, which means the club must pay a further fine of 10m euros (£8.6m). Of this, 7m euros (£6m) has been suspended for three years pending future compliance. Three of the clubs either sold infrastructure to directly linked companies, or players to associated teams. This was previously admissible under Premier League rules - it will not be from next season - but not by Uefa regulations. Newcastle posted a £34.7m profit after selling the leasehold to St James' Park and adjacent land to PZ Holdings Limited, a subsidiary company. All four clubs were in Europe last season, and the fines show the difficulties of complying with different rules across two competitions. Uefa reduced the squad-cost limit from 80% to 70% of a club's income last season, making it more challenging to comply. The Premier League has introduced its own variation of squad-cost limits, which kicks in from Wednesday. While clubs in Europe will have to adhere to Uefa's 70%, the other 11 Premier League teams will be permitted to spend upwards of 85% of income on the playing staff and the manager. The Premier League is trying to protect the competitive balance by allowing those without income from European competition to spend a higher proportion of their earnings. Forest are not in a multi-year settlement period, while Newcastle's does not relate to squad-cost ratio.