Aston Villa punished by Premier League as statement issued over fifth breach of rules

Aston Villa have been fined £125,000 after breaching Premier League rules over the multiball system for the fifth time, with the club now banned from using it for the first three games of the new season.

In total Villa have been fined £330,000 since the beginning of the 2024/25 season for consistently misusing the system, which is designed to keep matches flowing as balls are quickly thrown onto the pitch following stoppages in play.

In the club's final home match of the season against Tottenham Hotspur, as they pushed for Champions League qualification for the second season in succession.Goals from Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara earned victory over Spurs but the club have been judged to have used the multiball set-up incorrectly.

In addition to the fine, the Villans are now prohibited from operating the multiball system at its first three home matches of this season against Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Fulham. That follows the club being punished for indiscretions against Manchester United, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Brentford last season in addition to Spurs.

Against the Lilywhites, Villa went against guidance in a number of ways. Ball Assistants provided replacement balls from the cones directly to Villa's players for throw-ins and corners when not permitted to do so.

Additional ball assistants were positioned behind the goal that Aston Villa were attacking, and were in possession of additional balls to provide the Midlands side's players with ahead of corner kicks. In contrast, at the end the opposition were attacking, no additional assistants were in place and the correct number of balls were located in the area.

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And on one occasion a ball assistant threw an additional ball onto the pitch at the same time as Tottenham's goalkeeper was collecting the match ball in order to restart the game via a goal kick. This happened despite the club twice seeing concerns over the multiball system raised around the game.

Ahead of the match, the match delegate and referee brought up the need to adhere to guidance and implement the correct application. Match officials then raised concerns over this to Villa's multiball supervisor at half-time.

The Premier League said in a statement: "The Premier League has entered into a sanction agreement with Aston Villa FC after the club accepted it had breached the Premier League ’s multiball rules. First introduced in the 2022/23 season, the multiball system is intended to maintain the flow of League matches, reduce delays and enhance the fan experience.

"Clubs are required to adopt a multiball system at every League match and adherence to the relevant rules and guidance is of vital importance to maintain consistency and, crucially, to ensure that home clubs do not gain a competitive advantage through their misuse of the system.

"The accepted breach was the club’s fifth of the multiball rules during the 2024/25 season. The club will pay a £125,000 fine and will be prohibited from operating the multiball system in its first three home League matches of the 2025/26 season."

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