Chelsea report £49.4m loss but meet Financial Fair Play rules

Chelsea have made a loss of £49.4m for the year ended 30 June 2013.

Their group turnover of £255.8m for the 12-month period is a record figure for the club, but elimination from last season's Champions League in the group stages saw a drop in income.

The club said these figures, combined with the previous year's profit of £1.4m, fall within the criteria set by Uefa's Financial Fair Play regulations.

Their commercial income rose from £67m to £79.6m - a 19% rise.

Chelsea are third in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Arsenal, going into 2014 but it is unclear whether significant transfer funds will be available to manager Jose Mourinho in the January transfer window.

The club won the Europa League in 2013 but received significantly less prize money for that than they did in winning the Champions League in 2012, which contributed to the loss.

"For Chelsea FC to achieve a record level of turnover, despite our first group-stage elimination from the Champions League, shows we have structured our business and are growing in the correct way for long-term stability," chief executive Ron Gourlay said.

"Our philosophy is that we build upon success on the pitch - and although in these financial results we haven't repeated the sizeable profits made the previous year from player transfers, we believe the age profile of the existing squad means we will benefit from that investment for many years to come."

Chelsea's profit last year was their first since Roman Abramovich took control of the club in 2003.

That profit was aided by money brought in from player sales, in addition to a one-off financial boost that came when the broadcaster BSkyB agreed to cancel its shares in a joint digital media venture with the club.

The last two seasons have been the first monitoring period for Uefa's FFP regulations.

Chairman Bruce Buck added: "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.

"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."