The Premier League announced on Tuesday that under UEFA regulations, English football teams will no longer be allowed to sign players to contracts of more than five years.

Maximum five-year contracts for Premier League footballers

The reform adopted on Tuesday aims to prevent a widespread practice at some clubs, notably Chelsea, of signing very long-term contracts for accounting reasons.

The commission for the transfer is distributed during the term of the contract. In other words, the longer the contract, the smaller the annual payments are credited to the club’s accounts.

For example, a €100m bonus would be amortized at €20m per year based on a five-year contract, but only at €12.5m per year based on an eight-year commitment.

The Premier League on Tuesday amended its rules on the amortization of player registration costs to bring them in line with UEFA rules. In the future, the maximum length of contracts with new players or their extension will be applied to five years,” the English league said in a press release, AFP reported, citing Agerpres.

Chelsea’s American owners have particularly stood out in recent transfer windows, when in January they signed long-term contracts with players such as Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudric (eight and a half years) or Benoit Badiachile (seven and a half years).

Stamford Bridge did the same in the summer when Axel Dizazi and Christopher Nkunku signed six-year contracts that will no longer be available.