Chelsea want Middlesbrough fans banned from their own stadium

Chelsea have asked for Middlesbrough supporters to be excluded from the Riverside for Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final clash between the two sides.

Chelsea are currently prohibited from selling tickets due to sanctions imposed on the club’s owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich because of the Russian war on Ukraine.

Season ticket holders for Stamford Bridge and those who had already bought tickets are still able to use them but as the FA Cup clash and away games are outside of the season ticket benefits, no further tickets are being made available.

The Times sports writer Martin Ziegler reported that Chelsea had already sold "500-600 tickets" before the sanctions took hold.

The Blues had appealed to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation to be allowed to sell their entire away ticket allocation for the clash with Middlesbrough but were unsuccessful in their efforts.

As a result they have opted to take the extraordinary step of asking the FA to ban Middlesbrough’s supporters from their own ground for the clash, 'in the interests of fairness’.

Middlesbrough have already sold all of their available tickets for their home fixture.

A statement from the London club read: "Despite engaging in extensive discussions with the OFSI, the deadline to purchase away tickets has passed without appropriate amendments being made to the Government licence which would allow a full allocation of Chelsea supporters to attend.

"Executives at Middlesbrough had been kind enough to extend their deadline for ticket sales and stadium allocation from 7.30pm last night until 9.30am this morning. "It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA