An extra place had been laid for a mystery guest, but no one guessed the identity of the man who would take the additional seat at the dinner table. It was a warm late summer evening in Jerusalem in 2019 when Roman Abramovich joined Emma Hayes and her Chelsea players for a memorable few hours. “It was a great surprise, the players were giggling like teenagers,” Hayes would later say.
“We sat around at dinner talking about Middle Eastern history and the love of working for a club that supports its women’s football team in the way Chelsea have. We spent time talking about how proud he is of us and what we do.”
