In front of Stamford Bridge, there is no talk about the previous night’s victory over Norwich. Walking on the outskirts of Chelsea stadium, in an upper-middle-class neighborhood of London, I see a couple being stopped by security when trying to go to the official store. It’s closed. I enter the hotel reception, inside the complex, and ask until when it will be forbidden to make new reservations. “Nobody tells us anything,” an employee tells me. In a Brazilian cafe across the street, everyone is worried. “What brings people to the neighborhood is the club. If it breaks, we break too”, says an attendant.
It was supposed to be a dream moment. Chelsea is the current champion of the Club World Cup, disputes the Champions League, the FA Cup, is in third place in the Premier League. But as the team headed east of the country for another match, the threat came true.
Last Thursday (10), the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, joined the sanctions list of the British government, which, in an official document, calls him a “pro-Kremlin oligarch” who has “close ties to Vladimir Putin” for decades” and whose company in which he has a stake “potentially supplies steel to the Russian army that may have been used in the production of tanks”.
The sanctions prevent Abramovich from making money in the UK. His assets have been frozen, and that includes Chelsea. In order for the club to continue operating and salaries to be paid, the government has granted a license until 31 May. Teams can play until the end of the season, broadcast on TV, and Chelsea will get paid for it – the money will be frozen.
But one of the most powerful clubs on the planet now has travel spending limits — which possibly restricts luxury accommodations or private flights. Since the last 10th, you cannot sell shirts or tickets. Only supporters will go to the games because the financial transactions have already been made. It is forbidden to sign or renew, which may affect the future of Cézar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, whose contracts expire at the end of the season.
It is worth remembering that the transfer window opens in June and nothing prevents the license from being modified. And since the sanctions are on Abramovich, when he no longer owns it, chances are everything will go back to normal. But can he sell? Under current terms, no, but the government seems open to issuing new authorization for this, if the money doesn’t go to Russian.
A sponsor has suspended Chelsea’s contract, and the case has reignited the debate over sports washing – when a country, organization or individual tries to cleanse its image through sport. Is it the beginning of the end of practice in English football? Difficult. Since Abramovich bought the club 19 years ago, the men’s team has won 21 trophies, including two Champions League trophies, five Premier League trophies and, most recently, the Club World Cup.
Some of the fans blindly defend him, whether chanting his name – including during tribute to the victims of the war – or graffiti on a wall near the stadium, which reads: “Europe finances the war, not Chelsea. Leave our club alone. “.
The fact is that the future of one of the most prestigious clubs in the world is uncertain. The sign at Stamford Bridge says tickets for Sunday’s game against Newcastle are sold out. Perhaps for the last time of the season.
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