Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was hit with a number of sanctions by the UK Government on Thursday morning, severely impacting the running of the Blues.
It comes amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with a number of states sanctioning those associated with Vladimir Putin and the Russian state.
While Abramovich has always denied links to Putin, the Government report states he is a “pro-Kremlin oligarch” and claims he has been associated with the Russian president for decades.
The freezing of the billionaire’s assets means Chelsea now operates under the “Russia Regulations”, restricting how the club functions while under such a license.
As a result, the club cannot sell match tickets for upcoming games, for both home and away fans, and merchandise can no longer be sold which will impact upon the club’s income.
The cost of hosting a home match cannot exceed £500,000, though catering and security are still allowed at said games.
Among all of the regulations, there is also a restriction on away travel. The license claims that the club are not allowed to spend more than £20,000 on travel for an away game.
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This has thrown the potential trip to Lille in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 into doubt as to how the squad will get there and stay, as well as any other European game if they manage to get past their opponents.
Hugo Scheckter, former Player Care expert at Southampton and West Ham, has revealed the rough cost of an away trip in the league, suggesting changes may have to be made to their plans.
He said on Twitter: “For context, a usual Premier League away game with a flight, security, food, hotels etc would be about £30k.
“Going abroad, don’t see how they can do anything other than either commercial flights or drive their bus & significant drop in standard of hotel. Will make a big impact.”
He then added further: “And even £30k is a bit conservative.”
It all suggests that changes may have to be made for the trip to France for the Champions League tie, throwing into question the viability of the trip altogether as well as any other future European travel if they progress further.
The Blues will have to make sure it is sorted in time, with less than a week until the match and a 2-0 lead to take with them.
