Chelsea are facing the prospect of life without owner Roman Abramovich, writes DEAN WORKMAN.

Sportswashing has become a buzzword in football over the past few years, spurred by Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain’s continued success, Newcastle United’s takeover by a Saudi-backed consortium and Chelsea and their success story under Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich that now has all coming crashing down.

Over the past 20 years, billionaires have bought up European football clubs and looked to turn them into giants of the game by pumping obscene amounts of money into the clubs with no expectation of a return on investment. Some believe this is done in an attempt to improve their image on the global stage by association with a popular football team.

Chelsea was one of the first of these clubs to benefit from an owner’s massive wealth when Abramovich bought the London club in 2003. At the time of his arrival, Chelsea had enjoyed modest success having won only 15 major honours in its history at the time. While they were by no means a small club, they were nowhere near the juggernaut they are now.

Over the next 18 years, Abramovich put in a reported £1.5-billion to transform the club into one of the biggest and most successful sporting entities on the planet, attracting an army of supporters all over the world and winning 19 major trophies in that time.

He has been hailed as a hero by the Chelsea fans for ushering in this period of success. The crowning moment came when they were officially the best team in the world with their Fifa Club World Cup triumph in February. However, it then all came crashing down.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been met with outrage across the globe and governments are doing all they can to hit the country’s finances through sanctions and financial restrictions on oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin, including Abramovich.

The Russian billionaire announced in March that he wanted to sell the club, a decision he said was in the best interest of everyone as he also promised to wipe out the debt Chelsea owed him.

One week later, the sale was thrown into doubt as the UK government announced sanctions on the Chelsea owner but the Blues were given a special license to continue operating under strict conditions.

The problems are compounded by the fact the UK government, and particularly Chancellor Rishi Sunak, are overseeing the sale of the club to ensure that Abramovich isn’t benefiting. Sunak could be reluctant to sell to any bidders from Saudi Arabia, especially with the Premier League considering making human rights a part of their ‘fit and proper person’ test for new owners.

This means that potential buyers will face a myriad issues to get the sale over the line, with Premier League clubs calling for an investigation to be launched into whether Abramovich can write off the club’s debts without breaking any profit and sustainability rules.

Under current Premier League rules, owners are only allowed to invest £90-million over three years and anything above that is treated as a debt. So, if Abramovich writes off the £1.5-billion debt it could then become a financial fair play issue. The Russian being under sanctions means prospective new Chelsea owners cannot repay the loans, at least for now, which also complicates the issue.

Also, with a reported wage bill that stands at about £28-million per month, if Chelsea can’t find a buyer soon there is a chance of the club going into administration as the club is effectively not allowed to earn any money while it is still owned by Abramovich.

While Blues fans across the globe will be dreaming of a new owner stepping in and picking up where Abramovich left off, it is looking increasingly unlikely. Any new owner would have to facilitate a massive change in the way the club operates.

Chelsea may have enjoyed the high life over the past 20 years but now it looks like they are crashing back down to earth.