Just a few days after Roman Abramovich announced that he was putting Chelsea up for sale, the UK government has stopped that transaction and other parts of the income of both the Russian and the London team, which is in the midst of fighting for the Premier League and the Champions.
“Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced a complete asset freeze and travel ban on seven of Russia’s wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, whose business empires, wealth and connections are closely associated with the Kremlin. As part of the UK’s main efforts to isolate Putin and those around him, these oligarchs, who have a collective net worth of around 15 billion pounds (approximately $19.6 billion), will have their assets frozen in UK, they will be banned from traveling here and no UK citizen or company can do business with them. Those recently sanctioned by the UK include Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club,” the British government statement said.
This means that Abramovich could not receive any money from the sale of the club, either directly or indirectly. In addition, while this process lasts, Chelsea has stopped the sale of merchandising (shirts and official club products) and entrance tickets to its home games, since only season tickets purchased from the start of the season will be respected. The team also cannot sign new players or open new contracts to those who are already on their squad.
However, the government also said in its statement that it has allowed Chelsea a license to continue playing matches in the competitions in which it is still active while the conflict is resolved, such as the Premier League and the Champions League.
“This license will only allow certain explicitly named actions to ensure that the designated person (Roman Abramovich) cannot circumvent UK sanctions. The license will be kept under constant review and we will work closely with the football authorities.”
In accordance with the latter, fans are allowed to buy food and drinks during matches at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea. In addition, third-party retailers who purchased or produced club merchandise prior to Thursday, March 10, will be able to sell what they still have in stock as long as the money does not reach the team’s coffers.
“We will be contesting our men’s and women’s team matches today against Norwich and West Ham respectively, and we intend to enter into discussions with the UK government on the scope of these measures. This will include requesting permission to amend the measures to allow the club to operate as normally as possible. We will also be seeking guidance from the UK government on the impact of all this on the Chelsea Foundation and its important work in our communities,” Chelsea FC responded to the UK government statement.
It should be noted that during the duration of Abramovich’s sanction, the license allows the team to pay salaries, allowances and pensions for all employees, including the salaries of the players and their coaching staff. Also travel costs to and from matches, or for training purposes, by any of the team categories for players and essential personnel.
Regarding the direct impact on the links with the players, the club is prohibited from making offers to elements such as Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen, who end their contract in June. Thus, both defenders can go free to any club. A case that could be different is that of captain César Azpilicueta, who has an automatic renewal clause, although he is still not sure if he can execute it or not.
“There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s brutal attack 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, the destruction of hospitals and the illegal occupation of sovereign allies,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a statement.
The UK has already sanctioned more than 200 of Russia’s most important and valuable individuals, entities and subsidiaries since the invasion, and more than 500 of them are now included on its sanctions list. The latest update to the list, in which Abramovich was named, also includes Oleg Deripaska, with holdings in the En+ Group; Igor Sechin, CEO of Rosneft; Andrey Kostin; president of the VTB bank; Alexey Miller; CEO of the Gazprom energy company; Nikolai Tokarev; chairman of the Russian state-owned pipeline company Transneft; and Dmitri Lebedev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya.