Who wants to buy Chelsea Football Club

In 2003 Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire bought Chelsea FC for £190 million.

How do you think Chelsea fans felt?

How did this affect the world of football?



  • He was the first super rich owner to spend hundreds of millions of his own money on players and salaries.

  • As a result, the prices of players globally rose



Why do you think Abramovich wanted to spend his own money?

  • future profit

  • access to UK industries

  • sports washing

sports washing: holding a tournament or buying a sports team to improve the image of yourself or your country

Can you think of any examples of sports washing?

  • Russia

  • China

  • Qatar

How much do you think Abramovich wants for the club?

(he paid £190 million in 2003)

A few weeks ago he was asking for £3 billion.


Are these points pros or cons for buying it? Why?

  • It’s in central London

  • They are usually in the Champions League

  • Abramovic has spent £1.5 billion of his own money to make the club successful

  • In the last 15 years the club has only made a profit 4 times

  • They were almost bankrupt in 2003 when he bought it

  • The stadium only holds 40,000 and due to it’s location, it’s very expensive to expand it
    (Manchester United’s stadium holds 76,000)

  • Abramovich wants to sell the club quickly because of sanctions by the British government


Nick Candy - £2 billion

A luxury property developer who has partnered with 2 South Korean partners

 

The Ricketts Family - £2.3 billion

They are the American owners of the Chicago Cubs

 

Saudi Media Group - £2.7 billion

  • They claim to have no connection to the government but there is funding from the chairman of Saudi Telecom Company (STC) which is owned by the Saudi Arabian state.

  • The government has a bad image because of it’s poor human rights record


Which buyer do you think the fans prefer?

This year Newcastle was bought by Saudi Arabia, a country known for a terrible human rights record. How did Newcastle fans feel?

How did the British Government feel about Saudi Arabia wanting to buy a football team?

Which buyer do you think will win?

 

sources:

  • https://news.sky.com/story/chelsea-sale-deadline-for-bids-passes-heres-who-submitted-offers-to-buy-the-football-club-12569867

  • https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2022/03/16/chelsea-report-saudi-arabian-consortium-makes-3-5-billion-offer/

  • https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbymcmahon/2020/01/08/how-chelsea-went-from-record-60m-profit-to-96m-loss-in-one-year/?sh=1db7f55a3b4c

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