Chelsea

History

2023: 9th in terms of income among football clubs - €589.4 million

In January 2024, the rating of the most profitable football clubs in the world was released at the end of the 2022/23 season. In this list, Chelsea took ninth place with revenues of €589.4 million. Read more here.

2022: Abramovich sold Chelsea for $5.2 billion, but the British government took the money

At the end of May 2022, the British government announced the official closure of the sale of Chelsea. Russian businessman Roman Abramovich sold the London football club to a consortium of American businessman Todd Boely. The deal cost £4.25 billion (about $5.2 billion).

At the final stage, the sale of Chelsea was agreed by the leadership of the English Premier League (Premier League). In addition, the deal was approved by the UK government, which made sure that the income would not go to Roman Abramovich, the owner of the London club since 2003.

Abramovich sold Chelsea

Initially, the joint application of Tom Ricketts and Ken Griffin was considered the favorite in the fight for the club. The former is chairman of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and co-founder of investment firm Incapital LLC, while the latter is founder of one of the largest hedge funds in the world. The deal was hampered by a scandal involving Ricketts' father, whose personal correspondence with an abundance of incorrect statements was published online. Chelsea fans have even launched a special hashtag on social media to stop Abramovich accepting the offer.

Roman Abramovich said that he decided to sell the club in March 2022, even before the UK imposed sanctions against him due to Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. Chelsea reported that the billionaire had agreed to sell the club in early May 2022.

At the end of May, the British government issued a license according to which the sale of Chelsea was allowed. After that, information appeared that the deal should be approved not only by the government of the kingdom, but also by the authorities of Portugal, because Abramovich is a citizen of this state. Representatives of the British Cabinet organized negotiations with colleagues from the European Commission, after which, on May 26, Portugal approved the sale of the football club.^[1]

The businessman himself previously announced that he wants this money "to be transferred to a charitable foundation for the needs of victims on both sides of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine." However, after the sale of the club, "the money was never transferred to Abramovich's account and has since been at the disposal of the British authorities." "Mr. Abramovich does not have access to these funds and does not participate in the process of their distribution," the billionaire's press service said.

In January 2023, the Telegraph reported that the British authorities plan to soon agree on the transfer to Ukraine of 2.3 billion pounds received by Abramovich for London Chelsea. At the same time, it was noted that the transfer of funds will require the approval of the EU authorities, since European sanctions have been imposed against Abramovich.

1945: Match between Dynamo Moscow and Chelsea

November 13, 1945 the match Chelsea - Dynamo (Moscow) took place. The final score is 3-3. The match was attended by 74,496 spectators.

Stamford Bridge Match Crowd, 1945, London

1905: Goalkeeper weighing 150kg

That's what the Chelsea goalkeeper looked like in 1905. William Fulk, nicknamed "The Fat Man." William Fulk is a goalkeeper who had impressive dimensions. He was 193 cm tall and weighed 150 kg.

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