The sale of Chelsea has been put on hold after owner Roman Abramovich was added to the UK sanctions list and saw his assets frozen.
The sanctions on Abramovich for his alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin include a banning on transactions with UK individuals and businesses, as well as a travel ban. There are also transport sanctions.
Chelsea will be permitted to continue to operate and have been given a special license to allow fixtures to be fulfilled and staff and players to be paid.
Only existing ticket holders will be allowed to attend matches at Stamford Bridge for the foreseeable future, with no further sales allowed.
The licence does not permit the sale of the club, halting Abramovich’s plans, which he announced last week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.
“Today’s sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies.”
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss added: “Today’s sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
“The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
“Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine.”
Abramovich has stakes in steel giant Evraz, Norilsk Nickel and has owned Chelsea since 2003. He sold a 73 per cent stake in Russian oil firm Sibneft to state-owned gas titan Gazprom for £9.87billion in 2005. His net worth is an estimated £9.4bn.
He is one of the few oligarchs from the 1990s to maintain prominence under Putin.
Such is the determination to prevent Abramovich from making any money out of Chelsea going forward that the club shop will be closed and no new tickets will be allowed to be sold.
The Government would consider an application for a licence to allow the sale of the club. But any licence would not allow the sanctioned individual to benefit from the sale of the asset while the individual is subject to sanctions.
