The league board’s decision to disqualify Abramovich from
being a director accelerates the end of the Russian oligarch’s 19 years in
control of the reigning world and European champions but the club that
transformed into a perennial trophy winner by his investment is allowed to play
on.
League regulations would usually require Abramovich to
relinquish control within 28 days but the British government now has a say in
the sale process under the terms of the license that allows the team to
continue operating despite the owner’s assets being frozen.
The government welcomed the Premier League’s move against
Abramovich, characterizing the disqualification as being part of holding “those
who have enabled the Putin regime” to account.
“We are open to a sale of the club and would consider an
application for a license to allow that to happen,” the government said.
The government now has oversight of the buyout process which
the Raine Group, an investment bank, has been working on since Abramovich last
week announced, before being sanctioned, that the club was up for sale.
One consortium weighing a bid features Todd Boehly, part
owner of the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and
Jonathan Goldstein, a London-based property investor who is CEO of Cain
International.
There was another financial hit to Chelsea 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 is standing by Chelsea ahead of a potential takeover.
Abramovich originally hoped to divert the proceeds of a sale
into a new foundation for the victims of the war in Ukraine, which he is yet to
condemn Putin for launching. But the government will only sanction a sale that
does not see Abramovich benefit as the government tightens the screw on
influential individuals it views as enabling Putin’s regime.
The government did on Saturday ease one of the terms of the
license restricting Chelsea’s finances, raising the cap on matchday spending to
run Stamford Bridge from 500,000 pounds to 900,000 pounds ($1.2 million) ahead
of Sunday’s Premier League game against Newcastle.
Chelsea had company credit cards from Barclaycard frozen as
a result of the sanctions.
After disqualifying Abramovich, the Premier League confirmed
that “the board’s decision does not impact on the club’s ability to train and
play its fixtures.”
Some Chelsea fans have continued to stand by Abramovich
during the opening two weeks of the war, even chanting his name at a game last
weekend that the league hoped to use to show solidarity to Ukraine and the
victims of Russia’s invasion.
Abramovich’s disqualification halts the reign of the
competition’s first billionaire foreign owner, whose fortune turned Chelsea
into one of the biggest-spending clubs in Europe and one of the game’s most
successful. His investment ended Chelsea’s 50-year domestic title drought when
the league was won in 2005 and the trophy has been collected another four
times.
The team has collected 21 trophies since 2004 thanks to
spending on players that has seen Abramovich inject more than 1.5 billion
pounds ($2 billion) into Chelsea through loans he said he will not ask to be
repaid.
Sanctions were imposed against Abramovich after the
government called him a “pro-Kremlin oligarch” linked to “destabilizing ...
undermining and threatening” Ukraine where the war is into a third week.
Abramovich has made no comment since being sanctioned.
Abramovich has been without a British visa since 2018 when
he withdrew an application to renew his visa amid a clampdown on rich Russians
after a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned in the English city
of Salisbury.
Abramovich has since gained citizenship in both Israel and
Portugal. But there are investigations in Portugal into how Abramovich was
naturalized as a citizen based on receiving confirmation he is a descendant of
Sephardic Jews. A rabbi in the city has been detained, police said Saturday,
without confirming local media reports about him being questioned in relation
to Abramovich gaining Portuguese nationality.
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