Chelsea Incur $148.8 million in Loss During 2021/22 Season Blaming Sanctions on Ex-Owner Roman Abramovich

Chelsea say government sanctions imposed on former owner Roman Abramovich were a factor in the club’s losses of £121.3 million ($148.8 million) for the 2021/22 season.

Russian billionaire Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government in March last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He was described by ministers as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

Chelsea were placed under a special licence that restricted their ability to sell tickets, accept event bookings and even sign contracts with players.

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The restrictions remained in place until May 30 last year when a new consortium led by American businessman Todd Boehly completed its takeover of the club.

Chelsea said in a statement on Monday that turnover had increased to £481.3 million from £434.9 million the previous year despite the sanctions. Commercial revenue increased to £177.1 million.

“During this period, the club was restricted in a number of areas including, but not limited to, its ability to sell matchday and season tickets, sell merchandise, accept event bookings, as well as sign contracts with players and commercial sponsorship partners, which collectively resulted in extraordinary expenses and loss of revenue,” read the statement.

“Furthermore, some of these limitations are also expected to have an impact on the financials in the following years due to the long-term impact from restrictions on entering into new contractual arrangements,” it read further.

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The financial results do not cover Chelsea’s acquisitions in the past two transfer windows when they are reported to have spent around £600 million on new players.

The 2021/22 results show £118 million was invested in the playing squad, including existing player contract renegotiations, but a profit of £123 million was made on player sales including Tammy Abraham, Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma.

Chelsea said they continued to comply with UEFA and Premier League financial regulations despite the losses and the impact of the sanctions.

“The higher revenue was offset by increased operating expenses, including matchday and non-matchday costs that resulted from resumed operations and increased staff costs,” the Londoners added.

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“The above contributed to the group recording a loss before player impairments and one-off expenses of 26.6 million pounds for the year ended 30 June 2022, and an overall net loss of 121.3 million pounds,” they revealed further.

The club said the impact of the sanctions on financial results would also be felt “in the following years”.

Chelsea are currently 10th in the Premier League table after a recent uptick in form under manager Graham Potter.

(With inputs from AFP)

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