Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich has had his assets including Chelsea football club frozen, a prohibition on transactions with UK individuals and businesses and travel and transport sanctions imposed on him
The sanction is pronounced in other to prevent the 55 years old from accessing any form of money-making activities in the UK and this include, including the Chelsea football club.
However, an application was made to the UK Government to enable the sale of the club in the future as long as the Russian billionaire shall not make any profit from the transaction.
The UK Government has, however, lessened the sanction on Chelsea football club by giving them the freedom to allow fixtures to take place, staff, to be paid and fans who have the tickets to attend matches.
In summary, the following are the sanction that is binding on the Chelsea football club;
Offering new contracts to players or staff.
Conducting any official transfer business, including women’s team.
Selling new tickets to any game for any of their teams – including women and junior sides (season – ticket holders and existing ticket holders only).
Selling merchandise to fans (existing merchandise can be sold via third parties).
No stadium work or redevelopment.
Spending over five hundred thousand pounds on security, stewarding and catering costs per home match and over twenty thousand pound expenses per away game
The UK minister of sport, Nadine Dorries, in her tweet said: “ I know this brings some uncertainty, but the Government will work with the league & clubs to keep football being played while ensuring sanctions hi8t those intended. Football clubs are cultural assets and the bedrock of our communities. We’re committed to protecting them”
A government statement said: “Given the significant impact that today’s sanction would have on Chelsea football club and the potential knock-on effects of this, the government has this morning published a license which authorizes several football-related activities to continue at Chelsea”
“This includes permissions for the club to continue playing matches and other football-related activity which will, in turn, protect the premier league, the wider football pyramid, loyal fans and other clubs. This license will only allow certain explicitly named actions to ensure the designated individual is not able to circumvent UK sanctions. The license will be kept under constant review and we will work closely with the football authorities”
Five hours after the news broke out, Chelsea finally reacted by saying: “we will fulfil our men’s and women’s team fixtures today against Norwich and west ham, respectively and intend to engage in discussions with the UK Government regarding the scope of the license”
