What sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich mean for Chelsea FC

Chelsea Football Club is now frozen as one of Roman Abramovich’s assets. The club will still be able to operate though, albeit with some heavy restrictions. Among the things that can still happen are playing matches, paying wages and serving refreshments at games.

However, the club won’t be able to sign new players, give existing players new contracts, sell any new tickets (match and season tickets already sold are still valid), or sell any merchandise, whilst also being restricted to spend just £20,000 on transport going to games. It’s also believed that the planned sale of the club can still go ahead, but only if Abramovich doesn’t financially benefit from it in any way.

So what are the potential financial impacts on the club in the immediate future? The Reach Data Unit has been through the club’s accounts to see how the sanctions may impact the club, but also to see how Chelsea’s finances have changed under Roman Abramovich.

The good news for Chelsea is that the sanctions don’t prevent the club from receiving broadcast and prize money from organisations such as the Premier League or UEFA. That was worth a total of £273.61million to the club last season, making it their most important revenue stream.

By contrast, the club earned £153.60m through commercial income, and just £7.65m from matchdays, which was down £54.47m in 2019/20 due to games being played behind closed doors. Even in non-covid years, broadcast revenue has been the club’s main source of regular income, making up an average of 44% of revenue between 2009/10 and 2019/20.

One problem for Chelsea though is that they are barred from selling any more match tickets. That will no doubt come as a blow to the club’s finances, but they have been increasingly less