As the world continues to implement sanctions on Russia for their part in the recent invasion of Ukraine, businessmen from Europe’s largest country are hamstrung.
Chelsea Football Club’s Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, has announced on Thursday (3 Mar) that he will be putting the club up for sale.
After 19 years of relative success, Mr Abramovich said this decision is in the club’s best interest, its fans, staff, partners, and sponsors.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the club will go to Ukrainian aid.
In a statement from the football club on Instagram, Mr Abramovich, 55, said the process of the club’s sale will not be fast-tracked, but will “follow due process”.
He also promised not to ask for loans from the club to be repaid to him, which reportedly amounted to S$2.7 billion (£1.5 billion), Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported.
He wrote,
This has never been about business nor money for me, but about pure passion for the game and Club.
The Russian billionaire has also asked his aides to set up a charitable foundation to receive all net proceeds from the sale.
This foundation will serve to aid all the victims of the Ukraine war. This includes providing both short-term critical funding and long-term recovery efforts.
In 2003, he reportedly purchased the West London club for S$254.6 million (140 million pounds).
According to a report by the BBC, the United Kingdom has started imposing their sanctions on Russia through various means, such as:
However, Mr Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has gone on record to retract his statements on sanctioning Mr Abramovich specifically.
CNA also reported that Mr Abramovich is currently trying to sell all his villas in England. Swiss business tycoon Hansjoerg Wyss revealed that he, along with 3 others, had received an offer to buy Chelsea from Mr Abramovich.
However, there hasn’t been any confirmation on plans to change the club’s ownership.
Fans of the London-based football club will see this as the end of a highly successful era.
However, taking the world’s current geopolitical climate into account, the decision to sell was inevitable.
The least the fans can hope for is another successful period with different ownership at the helm.
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Featured image adapted from Ai Kagou on Flickr & Chelsea FC on Instagram.
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