Chelsea look set to finish the Premier League season with new owners at the helm after Roman Abramovich’s announcement that he is looking to sell the club.
The Russian billionaire has been forced to cash in on the west London club, where he has been owner since 2003, due to the threat of sanctions being handed down by the UK government.
Abramovich released a statement on Wednesday to confirm that he had made the difficult decision to put the club up for sale, bringing an end to his 19-year tenure as owner.
It is believed that several parties are interested in launching a takeover bid, with Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and American businessman Todd Boehly publicly declaring their interest in leading a consortium ahead of a reported £3bn bid.
But Chelsea are not the only club seemingly affected by the news, with dozens of Russian oligarchs set to be targeted by European nations in terms of having their financial assets frozen.
In addition to how Chelsea have been affected, it could have important ramifications elsewhere in Europe for clubs that are owned by Russian billionaires.
Mirror Football takes a look at the European outfits that may be affected by those sanctions and what could happen next…
AS Monaco
Monaco are the only other club in the top five European leagues to be owned by a Russian — and that man is Dmitry Rybolovlev.
Rybolovlev, who in 2021 had a net worth of $6.7bn (£5bn) according to Forbes, bought his stake in the club in December 2011.
At one point, the club were on the brink of financial ruin as Rybolovlev’s money dried up and were forced to sell off valuable assets such as Kylian Mbappe and Bernardo Silva in 2017.
It was that season that the club were crowned champions of Ligue 1, stunning the clear favourites Paris Saint-Germain in the 2016-17 season.
Rybolovlev appears likely to keep his 66.6 per cent stake in the club, which is listed under his daughter Ekaterina’s name.
But according to L’Equipe, he could be subjected to sanctions if oligarchs are banned from running French companies. As it stands, the minister of finance Bruno le Maire has said 26 oligarchs are being targeted — but Rybolovlev is not one of them.
Cercle Brugge
Another club owned by Rybolovlev, Cercle Brugge play in Belgium’s Jupiler Pro division.
While Monaco are largely self-sufficient and maintain assets to sell, Cercle could find any restrictions placed upon their owner particularly damaging.
The club had been struggling financially and searching for investment in 2016 when Monaco supremo Ryboloov swooped in to become their majority shareholder, owning the club outright by the following year.
Under his ownership the club returned to the top flight from the second tier and have recruited young talent to sell for inflated values elsewhere.
But if Rybolovlev were to be named on the sanctions list, he would most likely cash in on his Belgian shares rather than Monaco, giving the club some food for thought in the coming months.
Vitesse Arnhem
Valeriy Oyf is the owner of the Eredivisie club Vitesse, who are best known in the UK for being the club that helps Chelsea players gain work permits and first-team experience. Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Armando Broja have all spent time on loan there before moving onto bigger things.
However, the clubs’ relationship has loosened somewhat in recent years due to loan restrictions implemented by FIFA and the change of ownership in 2018, with Aleksandr Chigirinsky.
Oyf is yet to be named on the 26-man list of businessman sanctioned or to have their assets seized for links with Putin, but his links to companies such as Rosneft and Gazprom may make him a target.
He is also a known associate of Abramovich’s and a close friend of the Chelsea owner. In which case, there seems to be some possibility that he could face sanctions — although his net worth is not widely known.
While Russian investment has produced success for the likes of Monaco and Chelsea, it has been harder to come by for Vitesse and Oyf. The club had spiralling debts in 2021 and Oyf has been forced to dip into his pocket to keep the club running. Without him, the Dutch club may be in trouble.
Krasnodar
In 2008, Sergey Galisky was the brains behind founding Krasnodar FC, a new club in Russia who worked their way up the leagues and are now a regular fixture in Russia’s top flight.
He was also the brains behind their 35,000-seater stadium, which hosted Chelsea in the Champions League group stage last season, and is estimated to have used around £400m of his personal fortune to fund his football adventure.
Not many Russian billionaires can rival Abramovich in the super yacht department, but Galisky likes to have a go. The 53-year-old is worth around £3.5bn and owns a yacht worth £213m alone.
It remains to be seen whether he is likely to be targeted as Everton investor Alisher Usmanov was, with US president Joe Biden ready to seize their yachts and assets. Galisky’s luxury £213m vdv and recent sale of his company Magnit could put him on the target list.
Bournemouth
Meanwhile in addition to Chelsea, Bournemouth are another English club under Russian ownership, with Maxim Demin paying £850,000 for his share in the Football League outfit in 2011.
Promotion to the Premier League would eventually follow, with Demin overseeing one of the most successful periods in the club's history prior to the setback of relegation in 2020.
Now challenging for promotion back to the top-flight, the Cherries have absolutely nothing to worry about in terms of sanctions as unlike Abramovich, the non-political Demin is a British citizen.
