Who follows Roman Abramovich?

In the noble part of the British capital, a veritable tug of war has broken out over the reigning Champions League winner. In addition to the Ricketts, a whole squad of billionaires had recently advertised the club coached by German Thomas Tuchel with increasingly tempting assurances. They are all reportedly offering between two and three billion euros for the club, which has been in deficit for years.

100 percent of the company, which takes care of the business activities of the association, is for sale. This includes the conclusion of player contracts, the granting of merchandising rights or sponsorship deals.

A decision on who will be awarded the contract is to be made this month, and a shortlist of the four most promising candidates will be announced this week. It would not only be the most expensive club takeover in sports history – but also probably the most complicated.

Ultimately, the British government must decide

“Usually in transactions there is a seller and a buyer – that’s it. In this case, however, it is much more complex,” says Kieran Maguire, British football finance expert and author of The Price of Football.

Because the British government has frozen the assets of current Chelsea owner Abramovich as part of the Russian sanctions, the oligarch is no longer allowed to do business in England. Whether and to whom Chelsea FC is sold ultimately depends on the British government. “Only if she allows a sale can such a sale come about,” explains Maguire.

The US bank Raine Group is now to take care of the handling of the deal – on behalf of the sanctioned oligarch Abramovich. The mere fact that the bank is currently actively looking for possible buyers shows that the British government seems to want to make it possible for a purchase to go through. “Otherwise the US bank would hardly be wasting its time looking for buyers. There has obviously already been an exchange between the Raine Group, the government, the club and the Premier League in this regard,” Maguire suspects.

The Premier League must agree to the deal as well. According to Maguire, the operators of the top English football league will probably keep a low profile, as will the government – ​​both parties had potential conflicts of interest when choosing the new owner. “The Premier League is the governing body for the clubs in British Premier League football. It shouldn’t really have a subjective impact on who buys Chelsea.”

The British government, on the other hand, does not want to be seen as the shadow director of a top-flight club. In order not to be in the foreground, those involved agreed to Abramovich’s decision to handle the sale through the US bank Raine Group.

Numerous co-decision-makers

Above all, what is unusual is the apparently large say that club representatives are granted with regard to a possible deal. “In England, unlike in Germany, football clubs don’t have a parent club that owns the spun-off teams,” explains Markus Buchberger, lawyer and owner of a law firm from Dortmund that specializes in sports law.

Due to the “50+1” rule in Germany, for example, the parent clubs have the last word on important decisions, while in England, complete control usually lies with the owner. High-ranking club members would normally have no right of co-determination in takeovers and would only provide information about what exactly was going under the hammer.

In the case of the Chelsea deal, things are obviously different: US journalist Ben Jacobs claims to have learned from insider circles that Chelsea actually decided who made it into the final round of takeover candidates. Accordingly, the Raine Group have the CEO of the English football club, Bruce Buck, a central decision-making right. According to Jacobs, this is “highly unusual – just like this entire sales process”, but also means: “Anyone who has made it onto the final shortlist of interested parties can assume that the club feels comfortable with them as a potential buyer .”

Where does the proceeds from the sale go?

The question of where the billions that the new owner has to transfer actually end up is likely to be decisive. If the British government has its way, Roman Abramovich will definitely not. The businessman has already announced that he will not personally benefit from the sale and will donate the “net proceeds” of the deal to victims of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. However: “Who decides in this case who is considered a war victim? Abramovich himself, allegedly linked to Vladimir Putin?”, football finance expert Maguire points out.

He suspects that the money generated by a sale would therefore be nationalized and ended up in a separate escrow account that Abramovich has no access to. This is the only way the British government can guarantee that neither the oligarch himself nor Russia will really benefit from the sale.

According to Maguire, the “Financial Fair Play” regulations of the European football association Uefa and the Premier League do not play a role in this case. However, there is still one last hurdle for a potential takeover of the club, which affects the regulations of the English Premier League: A so-called “Owners” and Directors” test” ultimately decides on the suitability of the new owner.

On the one hand, this is intended to ensure that a buyer has the means to run the club for several years and, on the other hand, to rule out that he is involved in criminal activities. “Any candidates who are still in the running for a takeover should pass these tests without any problems,” says Maguire.

Negotiations under time pressure

Despite all the complexity: It is in the interest of everyone involved to complete the sale as quickly as possible, says the expert. “Time is running out.” It is unclear how much liquidity Chelsea still has and whether the club is able to pay the salaries of its players. The football finance expert estimates that salary payments of 32 or 33 million euros will be due as early as next week.

The sanctioned two-time Champions League winner is only allowed to take part in English league operations at all because of a special license. The “Blues” may not spend more than 600,000 euros per home game, travel expenses may not exceed 24,000 euros. “As long as we have enough shirts and a bus to go to the games, we will be there and compete,” coach Tuchel told the BBC.

Whether his players see it that way is an open question. According to media reports, some Chelsea players have already contacted lawyers to explore the possibility of a contract termination. “In the case of international transfers, Fifa law generally allows a contract to be terminated for good reason, especially if there is a significant delay in salary payments,” says Ulf Baranowsky, Managing Director of the German players’ union.

According to English law, a player has the right to terminate his contract without notice after two months without receiving a salary. According to “transfermarkt.de”, the Chelsea squad has a market value of almost 900 million euros – the players are capital, having to let them go on a free transfer would be an economic catastrophe for the “Blues”. Chelsea should therefore do everything possible to pay their players on time.

And what if a sale didn’t come about in the near future – and the club actually didn’t have enough money to finance the high-paying contracts of its top stars without a new investor? “Even then, a pragmatic solution would certainly be found,” suspects Kieran Maguire.

Perhaps the British government will extend the special license of the sanctioned traditional club with a view to the upcoming salary payments. Or the Premier League will advance payments that would otherwise only be due at the end of the season. One thing is certain, says the football finance expert: “No one in England has an interest in Chelsea FC collapsing. After all, the club is the reigning champion of the Champions League.”

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