Without being able to sell tickets or renew contracts: Chelsea lives hours of uncertainty

Chelsea lives hours of uncertainty after the sanctions applied to its Russian owner Roman Abramovich. The current world champion’s strategist, Thomas Tuchel, admitted that the future is uncertain and that “everything can change in the near future.”

The London club, currently third in the Premier League, won their early game against Norwich on Thursday, just hours after the Russian oligarch’s assets were frozen by the British government as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Abramovich, who is part of the circle of relatives of Russian President Vladimir Putin, not only has his assets frozen, but he cannot carry out transactions with British individuals or companies, nor can he travel.

The sale of the club announced by the businessman after the start of the conflict is therefore also blocked. Since he bought Chelsea in 2003, the club has won 19 major trophies and the Russian has endeared himself to ‘Blues’ fans.

The sale is still possible, but its owner will not be able to make any profit from the operation, despite having invested some 1,800 million euros (about 1,965 million dollars) in these years.

Due to sanctions, the club is unable to sell tickets for games at Stamford Bridge or sign, transfer or renew player contracts, when several essential team players such as Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen are out of contract on June 30.

“This situation is not going to go away,” Tuchel acknowledged. “Perhaps tomorrow it will change again, but it will not disappear”, added the German coach, who after the victory against Norwich declared his love for the club: “I am happy to continue here and train a good team, despite the fact that there is a lot noise around.