Roman Abramovich
Chelsea FC owner, Abramovich surrenders ownership of club to Foundation
As sanctions against Russia, and Russians alleged to be close to President Vladimir Putin bites harder, Roman Abramovich has passed the ownership of London-based English Premier League (EPL) side, Chelsea FC to the trustees of the club’s charitable foundation.
The Russian, who bought the club in 2003, remains the owner but has relinquished the running of Chelsea after a call in parliament for him to be sanctioned amid the invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich, provided he is not sanctioned, can continue to fund the club but the focus on him has provoked this move on the eve Chelsea Carabao Cup final against Liverpool. Abramovich has vehemently disputed reports suggesting his alleged closeness to Vladimir Putin and Russia or that he has done anything to merit sanctions being imposed against him.
The charitable foundation is headed by Bruce Buck, the club’s chairman. The other trustees are Emma Hayes, the Chelsea Women’s manager; Piara Powar, the executive director of the anti-racism organisation Fare; Paul Ramos, Chelsea’s transfers, contracts and the future of the manager, Thomas Tuchel, will be the responsibility of the director Marina Granovskaia and the technical and performance director, Petr Cech.
They are already heavily influential in running the club and in practical terms little will change for now on a day-to-day basis.
It is not known what the impact on Chelsea would be were Abramovich to be sanctioned.
“During my nearly 20-year ownership of Chelsea FC, I have always viewed my role as a custodian of the Club, whose job it is ensuring that we are as successful as we can be today, as well as build for the future, while also playing a positive role in our communities.
“I have always taken decisions with the Club’s best interest at heart. I remain committed to these values. That is why I am today giving trustees of Chelsea’s charitable Foundation the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC.
“I believe that currently they are in the best position to look after the interests of the Club, players, staff, and fans,” Abramovich said in a statement, Saturday.
The call to sanction Abramovich was made by the Labour MP Chris Bryant on Thursday. Telling MPs that he was quoting from a Home Office document leaked to him, Bryant suggested that the UK should seize Abramovich’s assets and bar him from owning Chelsea. Bryant also questioned why nothing more had been done about the 55-year-old’s UK assets given this official verdict.
Bryant responded to Abramovich’s statement on Saturday by tweeting: “Good. Now he can condemn the illegal invasion.”
In 2018 Abramovich withdrew his application for a new UK investor visa, amid worsening links between the UK and Russia. Abramovich has an Israeli passport and has since travelled to the UK using that.
Last November he attended his first Chelsea match at Stamford Bridge in more than three years and he has continued to give the club huge financial backing. Chelsea won the Champions League last season and collected the 21st trophy of the Abramovich era with the Club World Cup this month.
Under his ownership, Chelsea have won five Premier League titles and FA Cups, in addition to the Champions League on two occasions.
