The looming sale of Chelsea has taken a new twist. This after the Club's billionaire owner Roman Abramovic was slapped with sanctions from the British government amid his move to sell the club.
The Chelsea owner has been added to the list of sanctioned individuals following the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Abramovich joins the list of other six Russian business tycoons who have been sanctioned by the UK Government following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
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The sanctions mean that Abramovic's assets have been frozen however Chelsea have a sporting licence to continue trading as a football club.
The move by the UK administration means that the Russian tycoon will no longer be allowed to sell the London-based football club.
The decision will also have far-reaching effects, since the club will not be able to sell tickets with only the season ticket holders being the only ones who will attend the fixtures.
It has also been reported that Chelsea’s club shop has been closed after the news of the sanctioning of the owner.
"Given the significant impact that today’s sanctions would have on Chelsea football club and the potential knock-on effects of this, the Government has this morning published a licence which authorizes a number of football-related activities to continue at Chelsea.
"This includes permissions for the club to continue playing matches and other football related activity which will in turn protect the Premier League, the wider football pyramid, loyal fans and other clubs.
"This licence will only allow certain explicitly named actions to ensure the designated individual is not able to circumvent UK sanctions. The licence will be kept under constant review, and we will work closely with the football authorities,” the government statement read.