Poor Chelsea

Chelsea Football Club owner, 55-year-old Roman Abramovich, was on Thursday hit with a UK assets freeze and travel ban, throwing his plans to sell the club, which he bought in 2003, into disarray.Abramovich pledged that proceeds from selling the club would go to victims of the Ukraine war. However, the British government is not convinced and put Abramovich's plans on ice, effectively placing the current European champions under government control. The club can carry on playing their fixtures, and fans who already bought tickets can watch matches, however, no club will be sold if it benefits Abramovich, the British government has said.Furthermore, the government said agreements should be in place which benefit designated persons directly - only then will they consider unfreezing his assets. Now, not only are his assets frozen, but the billionaire is banned from carrying out transactions with any British individuals and businesses, and cannot enter or stay in Britain.This might not be a problem for him because he has Israeli and Portuguese citizenship as well.Anyway, this might sound very harsh for a business owner who employs thousands of people. It’s harsh because the future of the club is in limbo, and the players are obviously living in uncertainty as to what might happen next.Many people believe that players should be removed from politics and that the government of Britain should remove football from their issues, but this goes beyond this kind of reasoning.Chelsea is a profit machine for Abramovich. Look at the merchandise sold and bought all over the world by football lovers. The earnings he makes from selling players, etc. So, the British government has a point to include all his assets.Now, looking at a bit of Abramovich’s history, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, he obtained Russian state-owned assets at prices far below market value in Russia's controversial loans-for-shares privatisation programme. He was a confidant of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and current leader Vladimir Putin.Abramovich is the primary owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC. He was formerly governor of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug from 2000 to 2008. According to Forbes, Abramovich's net worth was US$12.9 billion in 2019, making him the second-richest person in Israel, the eleventh-richest in Russia and the third richest in Portugal.By cutting off their finance machines, the British government believes they can aid Ukraine in a way.

Poor Chelsea

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Republikein 2026-02-06

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Poor Chelsea

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Republikein 2026-02-06

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