In an unprecedented ruling against a club owner, the Premier League on Saturday ordered Roman Abramovich to stop running to Chelsea and sell him after the British government sanctioned Russia’s war on Ukraine and his close ties with President Vladimir Putin. ordered.
The league board’s decision to disqualify Abramovich as a director sets in motion the Russian elite’s 19-year rule under control of world and European champions, but the club that has turned its investment into a perennial trophy winner, He is allowed to play.
League rules usually require Abramovich to relinquish control within 28 days, but the British government now has a say in the sale process under license terms that allow the team to continue operating even if the owner’s assets are frozen. gives.
The government welcomed the move of the Premier League against Abramovich, blaming the disqualification as part of attributing “those who enabled the Putin regime”.
“We are open to the sale of the club and will consider an application for a license to allow this to happen,” Sarkar said.
The government now has oversight of the buyout process that an investment bank, the Rhine Group, has been working on since Abramovich announced last week that the club was up for sale.
The consortium that weighed in on a bid included Todd Boehli, part owner of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wies and London-based property investor Jonathan Goldstein, CEO of Caen International.
Chelsea suffered another financial blow on Saturday when jersey sleeve sponsor Hyundai suspended its marketing with the club until further notice and asked for its logo to be removed. It follows main Jersey backer Three, the communications firm, also suspending its partnership. But jersey maker Nike stands with Chelsea ahead of a potential takeover.
Abramovich originally hoped to divert the proceeds of the sale into a new foundation for victims of the war in Ukraine, which he has denounced Putin for starting. But the government will only approve a sale that does not see a profit for Abramovich as the government cracks down on influential people it sees as enabling Putin’s regime.
The government on Saturday eased one of the terms of the license restricting Chelsea’s finances, the match running from £500,000 to £900,000 ($1.2 million) at Stamford Bridge ahead of Sunday’s Premier League game against Newcastle. Expenditure limit increased.
Chelsea had Barclaycard’s company credit cards frozen as a result of the sanctions.
After Abramovich was disqualified, the Premier League confirmed that “the Board’s decision does not affect the club’s ability to train and play its fixtures.”
Some Chelsea fans have continued to stand with Abramovich during the first two weeks of the war, even chanting his name at a game last weekend to show the league its solidarity with the victims of the invasions of Ukraine and Russia. was expected to be used.
Abramovich’s disqualification halted the reign of the competition’s first billionaire foreign owner, whose fortune made Chelsea one of the highest-spending clubs in Europe and one of the sport’s most successful. His investment ended Chelsea’s 50-year domestic title drought when the league was won in 2005 and the trophy was collected four times.
The team has collected 21 trophies since 2004, thanks to spending on players who have seen Abramovich inject more than 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) into Chelsea through loans he said he repaid. Won’t tell you to leave.
Sanctions were imposed against Abramovich after the government called him a “pro-Kremlin oligarch” linked to “destabilizing … weakening and threatening” Ukraine, where the war is in its third week. Abramovich has not commented since he was approved.
Abramovich has been without a British visa since 2018, when he withdrew an application to renew his visa amid a flurry of pressure on wealthy Russians after a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned in the English city of Salisbury.
Abramovich has since obtained citizenship in both Israel and Portugal. But there is an investigation in Portugal into how Abramovich was naturalized as a citizen, based on confirmation that he was a descendant of Sephardic Jews. A rabbi has been detained in the city, police said on Saturday, without confirming local media reports that Abramovich was being questioned in connection with his acquisition of Portuguese nationality.
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