Claire Thomson
A new ownership has been agreed for Chelsea FC as the £4.25bn sale to a consortium led by American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital has been completed, securing the future of the club.
The club was put up for sale in March, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, before previous owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government over his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Chelsea had been operating under a special government licence in order to complete the season, however this was due to expire on 31 May.
The consortium repelled 11 competitive rivals to be named as the new owners, in a sale process that began on 2 March and was made up of more than 250 enquiries.
Todd Boehly said that he was “honoured” to become one of the new owners of Chelsea Football Club, stating that he wants the focus to be on making the fans proud. He also mentioned plans of developing the youth squad and obtaining the best talent, all whilst investing in the long term future of the club and continuing Chelsea’s magnificent history of success. The 48-year-old is also a part-owner of seven-time baseball World Series champions the LA Dodgers, US women’s basketball team the Los Angeles Sparks and NBA franchise the Los Angeles Lakers, proving that he is no stranger to investing in successful sporting teams.
Other investors include US billionaire Mark Walter who, like Boehl, is a co-owner of the LA Dodgers with a stake in the Lakers, and Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.
The UK government has announced that it does not want Abramovich to receive any of the proceeds from the sale, but instead the money will go into a frozen bank account and be donated to charities supporting victims of the war in Ukraine.
End of an era
Abramovich bought Chelsea for £140m in 2003. Under his ownership, the club has won every major trophy – two Champions Leagues, five Premier Leagues, five FA Cups, two Europa Leagues and three EFL Cups. In August 2021, the club went on to win the UEFA Super Cup and r in February won their first Club World Cup.
The success extended to Chelsea’s women’s team, who became affiliated to Chelsea FC in 2004, and to date have won five Women’s Super League titles and four FA Cups under the ownership of Abramovich.
When an agreement for the sale was reached, he said: “As I hand over Chelsea to its new custodians, I would like to wish them the best of success, both on and off the pitch.
“It has been an honour of a lifetime to be a part of this club – I would like to thank all the club’s past and current players, staff, and of course fans for these incredible years.”
Feature image courtesy of Simon Reza via Unsplash. No changes or alterations were made to this image. Image licence can be found here.
Claire Thomson
Aspiring Sports Journalist and Modern Languages Student (French/German) at University of Glasgow