Roman Abramovich: UK sanctions Russian oligarch and Chelsea owner

On Mar 10, 2022

Abramovich announced this month he plans to sell Chelsea, as it is “in the best interest of the Club, the fans, the employees, as well as the Club’s sponsors and partners.” This came after he declared he gave “stewardship” of the club over to trustees of the club’s charitable foundation.

But the new sanctions will see his assets frozen and will prohibit “transactions with UK individuals and businesses,” the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement Thursday. The billionaire will also face a travel ban forbidding him to enter the UK.

According to the UK government, Chelsea will be given a special license to continue to “fulfil its fixtures and carry out football business” — including the payment of players and club staff — but certain actions will not be permitted, such as buying and selling new players and selling tickets for games beyond those already sold to fans.

Existing season ticket holders will be allowed to attend matches as well as fans who purchased tickets prior to Thursday.

Fans can buy food and drink at these matches, according to the statement, and under the sanctions, third party retailers who bought or produced club merchandise prior to Thursday will be allowed to sell their existing stocks as long as no money is given to Chelsea. For now, the special license lasts until May 31.

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust — a non-profit independent trust set up to “encourage” the club’s board to “take into account the interests of all supporters” amongst other purposes — expressed “concern” over the move.

“Supporters MUST be involved in any conversation regarding ongoing impacts on the club and its global fan base,” the trust said in a statement.

“The CST implores the Government to conduct a swift process to minimise the uncertainty over Chelsea’s future, for supporters and for supporters to be given a golden share as part of a sale of the club.”

Ramifications for Chelsea — and its players

Ben Peppi, sports commercial expert at JMW Solicitors, told CNN Sport that unless the UK government introduces a new license, Chelsea can’t be sold.

“Abramovich won’t be allowed to put any money into the club or take any money out of it. As we know, he has funded Chelsea to the tune of billions of pounds and has a £1.5 billion ($1.98 billion) loan that Chelsea currently owes to Abramovich,” he said.

“We don’t currently know where the money to pay players is coming from — whether it just be coming from kind of day-to-day trading the business i.e. broadcast revenue, commercial revenue. Obviously, matchday revenue contributes to that, and we know that no new tickets can be sold, no new merchandise can be sold that benefits either the club or Abramovich — it can only benefit the retailers.”

This could have significant implications for the club, which is already seeing sponsors considering their contracts with Chelsea.

Chelsea’s shirt sponsor Three, the mobile phone and telecommunications company, told CNN Thursday they are reviewing their relationship with the club after the UK government sanctioned Abramovich.

“If Mr. Abramovich can’t finance the club, and you’ve also got other sources of commercial revenue coming into the club that are now going to start to basically dry out given the sanctions imposed, the long term implications are very significant if a sale isn’t made,” Peppi said.

Though Chelsea could negotiate with potential buyers, the club can’t be sold until a special license is granted, he added.

“If they’re not generating any commercial matchday revenue, and they’re not going to be able to draw on shareholder loans, where’s the money going to come from to prop up the club?

“I anticipate a new owner will be found. But it’s going to be a far different kind of sale process than it looked like it was going to be, even last week.”

The sanctions will also have implications for Chelsea’s players, Peppi said.

“The immediate short term players whose contracts are running down means that those players are entitled to essentially leave on a free transfer at the end at the end of the season because they’re out of contract.”

For players with contracts beyond the end of the season, nothing will change until May 31st, Peppi said.

In the long term, he said, “it goes to this wider, wider theme around the kind of cultural political, social impact of football as being way more powerful than it ever has been.

“And are players going to want to sign for Chelsea — for a club like Chelsea, a club like Newcastle — where they know the volatility of the situation with regards to the ownership structure of the football club?”

British Member of Parliament Chris Bryant had previously called for Abramovich to lose ownership of Chelsea after seeing a leaked 2019 UK government document that said Abramovich was of interest due to his “links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices,” the MP said in a Twitter post.

Abramovich is worth is an estimated £9.4 billion ($12.36…