Chelsea Football Club have announced a loss of £49.4million for the financial year ending June 30.

The club attributes the near £50million loss to a decrease in UEFA Champions League revenue in 2013 after an exit at the first group-stage compared to the previous year when the club won the tournament.

Chelsea, however, claim that the club now meet the Financial Fair Play standards set out by UEFA, stating “our financial results for the year ended 30 June 2013, which when combined with those from last year will enable the club to satisfy UEFA’s break-even criteria within the Financial Fair Play regulations.”

Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck said:

“From the very beginning of the current ownership of Chelsea Football Club, a long-term objective was financial sustainability, and the subsequent implementation of Financial Fair Play by UEFA and by the Premier League has brought that to the top of the agenda for football clubs.

“We are pleased therefore that we will meet the stipulations set down by UEFA in their first assessment period, and by our own analysis we are progressing from a commercial viewpoint as well as continuing to add trophies to our collection, which we never lose sight of as our most important goal.”

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