Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government – meaning he is now unable to sell the club.
Abramovich has had “his assets frozen, a prohibition on transactions with UK individuals and businesses, a travel ban and transport sanctions” imposed on him.
The sanctions are intended to stop the 55-year-old from making any money in the UK – and this includes from Chelsea. An application to the UK government can be made to sell Chelsea in the future as long as Abramovich does not profit or make any money from the transaction.
The government have granted Chelsea a special licence to allow fixtures to be fulfilled, staff to be paid and existing ticket holders to attend matches.
But Chelsea are now banned from:
- Offering new contracts to players or staff – Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta see their deals expire on June 30
- Conducting any official transfer business
- Selling new tickets to any game for any of their teams – including women and junior sides (season ticket holders and existing ticket holders only)
- Selling merchandise to fans (existing merchandise can be sold via third parties)
- No stadium work or redevelopment
- Spending £500k on security, steward and catering costs per home match and £20k expenses per away games
Nadine Dorries, the minister for Sport and Culture, has tweeted: “I know this brings some uncertainty, but the Government will work with the league & clubs to keep football being played while ensuring sanctions hit those intended. Football clubs are cultural assets and the bedrock of our communities. We’re committed to protecting them.”
A government statement said: “Given the significant impact that today’s sanctions would have on Chelsea football club and the potential knock on effects of this, the Government has this morning published a licence which authorises a number of football-related activities to continue at Chelsea.
“This includes permissions for the club to continue playing matches and other football related activity which will in turn protect the Premier League, the wider football pyramid, loyal fans and other clubs. This licence will only allow certain explicitly named actions to ensure the designated individual is not able to circumvent UK sanctions. The licence will be kept under constant review and we will work closely with the football authorities.”
Sky Sports News understands that Chelsea and government officials will meet on Thursday but the club have indicated that Thursday night’s game with Norwich will go ahead.
A Chelsea Supporters’ Trust Spokesperson said: “The CST notes with concern the Government’s statement regarding the owner. Supporters must be involved in any conversation regarding ongoing impacts on the club and its global fan base.
“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.”
Abramovich, who last month put Chelsea up for sale due to the threat of government action, has been sanctioned along with six of Russia’s wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, whose business empires, wealth and connections are closely associated with Vladimir Putin’s regime. They have a net worth of £15bn.
Those sanctioned are:
- Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel
- Oleg Deripaska has stakes in En+ Group
- Igor Sechin is the chief executive of Rosneft
- Andrey Kostin is chairman of VTB bank
- Alexei Miller is CEO of energy company Gazprom
- Nikolai Tokarev is president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft
- Dmitri Lebedev is chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.
“Today’s sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “Today’s sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
“The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
“Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine.
Abramovich has owned Chelsea since 2003 and the club have won 21 trophies in 19 years during his stewardship.
Chelsea can continue to operate but club is in limbo
Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol
The sale is on hold for the time being. Roman Abramovich will not be able to sell Chelsea. From the beginning of this process he’s been on the back foot, he’s not been in control of this situation – the government has.
Sports lawyer Stephen Taylor Heath explains what the sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich will mean for Chelsea and a potential sale.
He came up with the scheme to hand over control but not ownership of the club to the Trustees of the Chelsea Foundation charity. That didn’t work, so he released a statement saying he wished to sell the club, and that all proceeds would go to a new foundation that he would set up to help all victims of the war in Ukraine.
That’s what he wanted to do, but all along there has been the threat of the UK imposing sanctions on him. He’s now not allowed to make any money in the UK, and won’t be able to sell Chelsea.
But Chelsea is seen by the government as being a significant cultural asset, thereby they’ve given Chelsea a licence. So despite the sanctions, they can carry on operating, fulfilling their fixtures.
Chelsea fans sang the name of Russian owner Roman Abramovich during a minute’s applause in support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country. Abramovich announced this week he is selling the club after 19 years.
But effectively, they are in limbo. There are a lot of things they can’t do.
They can carry on paying their players, but they will not be able to make new signings. They can’t sell tickets for games, so only season ticket holders or people who already have bought tickets can go to games.
They won’t be able to make any money from merchandise. They’ll be able to carry on paying their players and day-to-day bills.
It goes into detail, even about how much money they can spent on travel to away games. Per team at the club, they can spend up to £20,000 on travel. For home games, they can spend up to £500,000 per game on security, catering and stewarding, but no more than that.
What this means for Abramovich is that Chelsea is now effectively out of his control now. It is operating under a special licence now, and that licence will be continually reviewed.
For Chelsea as a club, in the short-term they can continue to operate on a match-by-match basis, but long-term things are very, very uncertain.
We will get into things like player contracts, the transfer window opening, whether players who are out of contract will want to stay at the club, whether the big-star players will want to stay.
The staff will carry on being paid, the government have made that clear.
If you go to a game at Stamford Bridge, I imagine you’ll still be able to buy food and drink, but you won’t be able to buy anything from the club shop.
If you don’t have a ticket, you won’t be able to watch Chelsea, unless you go to away games. It’s a lot to digest for Chelsea supporters.
A lot of people will be saying they feel sorry for Chelsea supporters, but they’re not the victims here, there are far more important things going on in the world than football at the moment.
What does this mean for the sale of Chelsea?
Stephen Taylor Heath, Sports lawyer
The short answer is, no he can’t (sell the club). The freezing of an asset literally means the freezing of an asset. Chelsea is a physical item, there is lots of organic parts to the club, unlike a yacht, and that is why the government has issued a special licence which effectively means the club can continue trading and operating based on its current commitments and obligations.
Sports lawyer Stephen Taylor Heath explains what the sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich will mean for Chelsea and a potential sale.
So the current season-ticket holders can attend games because they’ve already contracted with the club, spectators who want to buy tickets for games can’t because that is a new transaction.
That is at one level, new players would be another new contract, even potentially new contracts with existing players could be new contracts. And clearly what would be a new contract would be the sale of the club.
So in short, based on this freezing order, no he can’t sell the club. Now if the government is prepared to give a special licence in relation to the operation of the club, then the question is whether they would then give another special license in relation to the sale of the club.
But based on the terms of this freezing order, no he can’t.
Sports lawyer Stephen Taylor Heath says that Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea may have to involve a third party if sanctions are imposed on the offer and doesn’t see a sale happening particularly quickly. (SkySports)
