Chelsea FC is a english football (soccer) club based in London,England. From the years 2003-2022 the club was owned by Roman Abramovich. This era was known as golden era for the club full of trophies but it came to an abrupt and distatrous end.
Roman Abramovich was born in Saratov Russia in the year 1966. And is a Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman, investor, and philanthropist, best known as the owner of Chelsea Football Club. But before he owned Chelsea he amassed his wealth through investments in various industries, including oil, metals, and real estate. Abramovich's acquisition of Chelsea in 2003 marked a significant chapter in the club's history, leading them to numerous domestic and international successes. Beyond his business ventures, Abramovich is also recognized for being a Russian Oligarch, supporting various causes in Russia and around the world.
Oligarchs — or extremely wealthy business leaders who are politically connected — became more prominent in Russia in the 1990s, but they are not unique to Russia.
In Russia Oligarchs typically amassed their fortunes through the privatization of state-owned assets following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. They often control vast holdings in industries such as oil, gas, metals, banking, and media. Oligarchs wield considerable power and influence, both economically and politically.
Roman Ambramoivh is known to have enjoyed enjoyed close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Western officials said.Through business, politics and even a personal relationship/
As a Russian Oligarch Roman Ambramovich maintained relationships through private political meetings as he was involved. Putin's political activity. Economically Putin gave power to Ambramovich to allowing him to control vast sectors of the Russian economy. This is where Amramovich stole money from Russian citizens.
With this dirty money Ambramovich was able to buy Chelsea FC. But the spending didn't stop there, as Roman bought top players from around the world and future prospects for years to come. With these inquries of players Chelsea soon rose to international success winning trophies left and right from the years. A state the club had never reached before. With all this success the fanbase revered Ambramovich as a hero to the club but little did they know his corrupt side.
On February 24,2022 escalated the Russo-Ukrainian War by invading Ukraine. Becoming the largest attack on a European country since World War 2. By June 2022 Russian troops occupied 20% of Ukrainian territory.Leading to 8 million Ukrainians being internally displaced and and an additional 8.2 million fleeing the country. It is estimated to have caused tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of military casualties.
In March 2022, Abramovich was sanctioned by the European Union and the UK after ministers found out about his ties to Putin, and by association "blood on his hands." And with this the UK government had all of his assets frozen and was banned from travelling to Britain. And for sometime Ambramovich refused to sell the club.
With Ambramovich's refusal to sell the club the club was not allowed to make money from any source. Meaning ticketing offices was closed,the team store was closed, and they could no longer buy or sell players.
For the last few days of Ambramovich as owner the club almost became liquidated. With the club being unable to make or spend money they had to begin to look for someone to buy the club from Ambramovich.And finally on May 28 of 2022 American Businessman bought the club for £4.25bn. Ending the 19 year ownership by Roman Ambramovich
Since the takeover by Todd Boehly the club has actually hit a rough patch. They are no longer winning trophies and are barely reaching top 10 in the league. But Boehly has recently spent a record breaking amount of money buying players. So the future could be brighter for Chelsea FC.