Aston Villa have been hit with with a hefty fine on the opening day of the Premier League season.
The Villains will have to pay up £125,000 after breaching a little-known Premier League rule for the fifth time.
It relates to the misuse of a system which is designed to keep matches in the top flight flowing freely.
They have now been banned from using the Premier League’s multiball system for their first three home fixtures of the season after five instances of misusing it last season.
The £125,000 fine means they have now paid a remarkable £305,000 in total for persistently breaking the rules since the start of the 2024-25 campaign.
A Premier League statement read: ‘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.’
One of the violations cited in the Premier League’s ‘sanction agreement’ with Villa, revealed on the eve of the new season, details their final home game against Tottenham Hotspur last term when Unai Emery’s side were chasing Champions League qualification.
Villa were accused of having their ball boys and girls help them throughout the match, including positioning additional youngsters and balls behind the goal they were attacking but not the one they were defending. Villa’s players were found to have had balls handed to them on multiple occasions in direct contradiction of the multiball system, which was introduced in part to avoid a home side gaining a competitive advantage over the away team.
The officiating team, led by referee Peter Bankes, raised his concerns with the ‘multiball supervisor’ at half-time. Villa won 2-0 to lift themselves into the Champions League places before going on to finish sixth in the Premier League.
That Spurs victory marked their fifth breach, prompting the authorities to issue this ban as they believe the ball boys and girls had been deliberately instructed to help their club.
For their coming games against Newcastle, Crystal Palace, and Fulham, there will only be a single-ball system in place. When the ball goes out of play and remains close to the pitch, the players will have to retrieve it themselves to restart play. If the ball cannot easily be retrieved, it will then be allowed to be collected by the ball boys or girls.
