Chelsea have had the terms of the licence imposed by the government following the sanctioning of Roman Abramovich eased further, with the club now allowed to sell tickets to fans for away fixtures.
The club will not receive any of the money made from these sales, nor from tickets sold at Stamford Bridge for visiting fans, which is now also permitted. Instead the revenue will go to Chelsea’s opponents and competition organisers, including the Premier League, the government said. Chelsea fans will not be able to buy home tickets to watch the men’s team, but the changes ease some of the current uncertainty faced by supporters.
An updated “general licence to stage football matches” was issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) on Wednesday night and the sports minister Nigel Huddleston said the changes were made with supporters in mind.
“I would like to thank fans for their patience while we have engaged with the football authorities to make this possible,” he said.
“Since Roman Abramovich was added to the UK’s sanctions list for his links to Vladimir Putin we have worked extensively to ensure the club can continue to play football while ensuring the sanctions regime continues to be enforced.”
The general licence contains eight clauses of “permissions” which include granting the club the right to pay staff, pay off debts and to generate “reasonable” costs in travelling, among other things. The terms of the travel clause have been altered by government already, allowing the club to spend more on transporting their players to matches than was originally determined.
Clause 7 of the licence grants the club the right to sell tickets and clause 8 determines that another club or a “relevant body” may “receive and retain the proceeds of sale of those tickets”. However the precise terms are complicated and vary depending on the competition.
The revenue from all the matches will be given to charity, with the Premier League stating: “Chelsea FC have requested and the Premier League agreed that this revenue will be donated to charity to benefit victims of the war in Ukraine. The beneficiary charities will be announced in due course after consultation with the club.”
The licence changes come as the club continue to go through a sales process during which multibillion‑pound bids have been made by parties from across the globe. The Raine Group, which is in charge of facilitating the sale for Abramovich, is anticipated to announce a shortlist of candidates for the takeover by the end of the week, with the government having the ultimate say in approving the preferred bidder.
