Chelsea FC and the War on Ukraine
Chelsea FC: Formerly owned by a billionaire oligarch, now in financial turmoil
In the recent hours, there have been reports of yet more sanctions being placed on Roman Abramovich, the now-former owner of Chelsea Football Club due to his ties with the Russian government and rumoured involvement in enabling the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Furthermore, the English Premier League has now come to a decision to disqualify Mr Abramovich from holding his position as club director, and however temporary the position may be, it seems to have dissolved rather quickly. Earlier this week, the UK government has also imposed a travel ban upon the Russian oligarch and have also seized his assets, with the ownership of Chelsea being controlled now by the national body.
This comes of course as a reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a now deadly war, where many fathers, sons, mothers and daughters have been killed in the fighting. While the situation has all but tied the UK to only placing economic sanctions and supporting their Ukrainian allies from afar, the effects of the aggressive sanctions have been felt under the lights of Stamford Bridge.
The UK Sports Minister Nadine Dorries has offered the London club a bit of reprieve though as to let Chelsea play out the current season, allowing them to pay their staff and to enable the roughly 30,000 season ticket holders to support their beloved club in person. A sign of recognition to keep sport separate from politics, the understanding that football is a cultural asset as well as a one for financial gain has protected the club from even more financial turmoil. With an ever so increasing degree of uncertainty surrounding the future of the club, this indirect way of hurting the Russian campaign, it seems, has dragged the reputation of Russia down in the sphere of football — giving international attention to the role of the super-rich in their funding of the Kremlin’s war efforts.
“There is enough connection, enough of a link between the Putin regime and the individuals in question to justify the action”
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson claims about the UK dishing out sanctions to 6 Russian billionaires with considerable links to Putin. With that, the 1.5 billion pounds that Abramovich has injected into the club will slowly but surely dry up, leaving disaster looming for Chelsea if they do not find an owner, and quickly.
While the bulk of the financial damage to the current Club World Cup holders may seem to be from legislative bodies, the effect of sanctioning both Abramovic and the club itself, has turned the heads of major sponsors, including premium shirt sponsor Three, who has now asked to suspend their 3-year deal with the Blues, leaving them without a shirt sponsor for the rest of the season. The telecommunications company will officially suspend their 40 million pound deal with the English club, removing their affiliations on the shirts and around the club. With Hyundai also looking into their deal with the club as well as rumours of Nike freezing their partnership, the loss of these major partners may spell further disaster for a club of such stature and Premier League royalty.
For now, however, it is simply a case of playing the waiting game as the situation unfolds in an ever-changing, increasingly political and divisive world climate…
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