The British government finally sanctioned Roman Abramovich & Chelsea FC

I’m not sure if Americans really understand what a big deal and a big mess this Roman Abramovich situation is. In 2003, Abramovich bought the Chelsea Football Club, which was already one of the biggest football clubs in the UK. He had the time and money to make significant improvements and to bring some of the best football players in the world to Chelsea. People have really strong feelings about Chelsea FC. Which is why I believe Boris Johnson’s government slow-walked sanctions on Abramovich specifically, although one could argue that the Johnson government has slow-walked sanctions on all of the Russian oligarchs who own property in the UK. The Tories are much like the Republicans here in America: heavily financed and compromised by Russia. In any case, the Johnson government has only now decided to sanction Abramovich, but Johnson has taken pains to ensure that Chelsea FC will continue as always.

The U.K. government said on Thursday it had imposed asset freezes on seven Russian businessmen including Roman Abramovich, Igor Sechin, Oleg Deripaska and Dmitri Lebedev after they were added to the country’s sanctions list.

“There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine,” U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson said. Abramovich is the owner of Chelsea football club, Deripaska has stakes in En+ Group, Sechin is the chief executive of Rosneft and Lebedev is chairman of the board of directors of Bank Rossiya.

The U.K. government said it would enable Chelsea to continue playing matches after it imposed sanctions on Abramovich, halting his plan to sell the English Premier League side. Abramovich had put the club up for sale, but Britain’s asset freeze and sanctions on him bar that process under the terms of the licence granted to the club.

Nadine Dorries, Britain’s minister for sport, said the government had issued a special licence to enable Chelsea to play fixtures, pay staff and enable ticket holders to attend matches, because it did not want to harm the reigning European and world football champions.

“I know this brings some uncertainty, but the government will work with the league and clubs to keep football being played while ensuring sanctions hit those intended,” she said on Twitter. “Football clubs are cultural assets and the bedrock of our communities. We’re committed to protecting them.”

[From ESPN]

Basically, everything will continue as is – Chelsea ticket-holders will retain their tickets or be able to sell at a fair price. Broadcasters will still be able to televise Chelsea matches, but the revenue from the TV rights will be tricky, because Abramovich is no longer allowed to “profit” in any way from Chelsea FC. Apparently, new tickets will not be sold and Chelsea cannot sell merch. Everyone who works for Chelsea will get paid, the government assures. My guess is that Boris Johnson waited this long in the hopes that Abramovich would make a quick sale of Chelsea and then stash away the profits outside of the UK. It’s been difficult for Abramovich to sell though – he’s asking for £3 billion for Chelsea and no one has bid that much! Because if you have billions to throw around, you know a fire sale when you see one, and why pay nearly $4 billion for a football club when the owner is being sanctioned and you could get it cheaper? Johnson thought it could let all of this play out quietly, that’s why he waited so long to sanction these oligarchs.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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23 Responses to “The British government finally sanctioned Roman Abramovich & Chelsea FC”

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  1. EllenSz says:
    March 10, 2022 at 10:29 am

    Not continuing as is. No transfers and no contracts is a big big deal. You’ve got three of their biggest players up for renewal and they won’t be able to keep them. And they can’t get anyone else in. This is super damaging to the team. Abramovich absolutely deserves it. Unfortunately the players and its employees will feel it far more than he will.

    • HandforthParish says:
      March 10, 2022 at 11:32 am

      It is a big deal. They are likely to lose their best players, their merch sales are frozen as well as tickets sales- it’s been estimated that they will lose about half a million pounds a game on ticket sales alone.
      All their advertised and TV money will be frozen too and their travel costs severely limited.
      Basically no money in the club at all.
      Sponsors are reviewing their contracts too.
      Could sink them to a bottom division pretty fast.

      • EPLFan says:
        March 10, 2022 at 11:49 am

        As a Chelsea fan I know it’s going to suck next year. Even if this magically lasts a week it’s still going to hurt, particularly for the people who work game day in the stadium and the women’s team. But to quote Klopp, “football is the most important of the least important things.” So if it draws an end to actual human suffering, I’ll take a year of being mid-tier. Also, getting rid of Roman might help the club keep a manager longer than 18 months so we end up like Liverpool with their long-term experiment.

    • Rice says:
      March 10, 2022 at 11:56 am

      “No transfers” is HUGE! Chelsea FC are reigning UEFA Champions and they would definitely want to keep winning. Also, they would want to get the best players so they can dethrone Man City in the Premier League. They may not be able to do any of those things without transfers. The EPL is gonna get even more interesting.

  2. Beenie says:
    March 10, 2022 at 10:31 am

    One small thing to add, just in case people aren’t aware. Abramovich moved to Israel about 3 years ago. That’s where he lives (at least most of the time). I’m sure he has properties all over but at any rate, Israel is his current home base.

    • Em says:
      March 10, 2022 at 10:42 am

      Shocking they didn’t sanction lord lebedev prince William’s lil friend

    • Stan says:
      March 10, 2022 at 11:21 am

      Do we really want to discuss Israel’s response to this war? Do we want to talk about all the Russian money in Israel? Abramovich is the largest contributor to the Holocaust museum in Israel and they aren’t too keen to cut off that money chain. As for him “living” there, I think you are being generous with those terms. He has an Israeli passport but “living” there is pushing it.

      • HandforthParish says:
        March 10, 2022 at 11:34 am

        Fun fact- he also has a Portuguese (EU passport). You can get one if you spend half a million on property in Portugal, or invest a million.
        Pocket change for dear Roman.

  3. C-Shell says:
    March 10, 2022 at 10:39 am

    Took ‘em long enough! The way BJ and the UK have been bungling their response to the Russian war on Ukraine (refugees, etc.) is shameful. Also …

    “Lebedev is chairman of the board of directors of Bank Rossiya” … isn’t this the oligarch who’s good buddies with Bulliam?

  4. Sue E Generis says:
    March 10, 2022 at 10:56 am

    Publicity stunt after UK gov gave all oligarchs ample time and warning to transfer assets elsewhere.

    • Roo says:
      March 10, 2022 at 11:00 am

      EM, maybe that’s why he and Keen “can’t donate” to any Ukraine relief charities. Wouldn’t want to hurt his BFF’s feelings. 🙄

      Ugh. Gross any way you look at it.

    • Lilibet says:
      March 10, 2022 at 5:14 pm

      Absolutely that! He has given them a two week warning to move their money and finances elsewhere. Such a load of BS, I literally despise BoJo and his Tory ‘only looking after me and my rich mates’ government.

  5. Nurse Anne says:
    March 10, 2022 at 11:02 am

    It’s pretty clear that BJ and the UK gov’t gave these oligarchs enough time to see the writing on the wall and get their assets out of the UK before putting the sanctions into place. It’s been 2 weeks since the major escalation of conflict in Ukraine. Putin and all of these other oligarchs knew they would be sanctioned. BJ just gave them enough time to shore up their liquid cash in the UK and move it to a shell company in the caymans or something.

  6. Stan says:
    March 10, 2022 at 11:24 am

    Never forget that Roman’s ex-wife Sasha is best friends with Ivanka Trump and Wendi Deng. Deng was married to Rupert Murdoch and was (allegedly) having an affair with Putin. These people are in deep and have been for years. They have never hesitated about taking or making money off the tyranny of Putin and Russia.

  7. MY3CENTS says:
    March 10, 2022 at 11:46 am

    My money is on the lot of them on their mega yachts some where with no extradition agreements .

  8. Robert Phillips says:
    March 10, 2022 at 11:48 am

    I know this is going to get me bashed on here. And I do feel sorry for the players and employee’s who work for the league. But it’s only a game. People in Ukraine are losing their lives, homes, country. And what’s to stop Puting from moving into the surrounding countries. Everyone is trying to pretend that the world goes on as usual. But its not. This is a complete turning point for the entire world. Are we going to let the violent men like Putin, Trump, Kim JonUn, etc and their followers take over the world. Or are we going to stand up like the Ukrainian people and say no. This is our home and you can’t have it.

    • Misskitten says:
      March 10, 2022 at 12:24 pm

      Thank you!!! You said exactly what I was thinking, except you were a lot more polite about it.

  9. dc says:
    March 10, 2022 at 1:52 pm

    Another name that popped up in the Uk Govt. statement was Dmitri Lebedev. Who owns The Independent and The Evening Standard newspaper in UK! So I wonder if he going to have to sell it??? Or will his assets in that newspapers be frozen?

    • Jaded says:
      March 10, 2022 at 4:53 pm

      Dmitri Lebedev is chairman of the board of directors of Bank RossiyaIt, and the British government imposed sanctions on him this month including freezing his assets and a travel ban. He has been described by EU officials as the “personal banker” of senior Russian officials.

      It’s Evgeny Lebedev who owns The Independent and Evening Standard newspapers, and he was given a peerage in July 2020. “Lord” Lebedev recently published a letter to Putin urging him to “bring this terrible conflict in Ukraine to an end”. He said, “As a Russian citizen I plead with you to stop Russians killing their Ukrainian brothers and sisters.”

      There’s been a great deal of controversy about Lebedev’s peerage — the commission that vets peerage appointments advised BoJo against granting him a seat in the House of Lords due to security concerns, but he is said to have responded to the advice by claiming it was “anti-Russianism”.

      Hmmmm…..

  10. Lucky Charm says:
    March 10, 2022 at 2:43 pm

    Does Boris Johnson not own a hairbrush?

  11. jferber says:
    March 10, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    I’m surprised they froze Abromovich’s assets before he sold Chelsea FC. At first I was confused about this, thinking he owned Chelsea Piers in New York City. Why not seize the yachts, too? Seize and freeze it all.

  12. Just My Thoughs says:
    March 10, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    Will the players be able to get out of their contracts? What happens if their are know buyers?

  13. jferber says:
    March 10, 2022 at 10:24 pm

    Boris owns a hairbrush, but doesn’t use it. He’s lording it over William the Bald, I guess.