London: Chelsea has posted annual losses of more than $80 million but the Premier League club remains confident of complying with UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules.
The club slipped back into the red a year after making a profit for the first time since Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich's takeover in 2003.
Chelsea lost 49.4 million pounds ($81.7 million) in the year to June 30, after making a profit of 1.4 million pounds ($2.3 million) in 2011-12. But UEFA allows unlimited investment on infrastructure and youth development, which Chelsea believes accounted for around 15 million pounds ($25 million) in spending in 2012-13.
UEFA is allowing losses of up to 45 million euros ($62 million) in the first FFP monitoring period - 2011-2013 - without the risk of being barred from European competitions.
