Chelsea has blamed the sanctions imposed on the club’s former owner, Abrahamovic by the UK government as one the reasons why the club recorded a revenue loss in the 2022.
According to Reuters, Chelsea recorded an overall net loss of £121.3 million ($148.65m) for 2021-22 due to “extraordinary expenses and loss of revenue.
Abrahamovich had to distressly put the club up for sale in March last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine- a development which triggered the UK government to introduce sanctions on Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs.
Among many other things, Chelsea were not allowed to sell tickets during that period, resulting in a loss of revenue, with the club’s operational spending also curtailed due to government restrictions until the sale was effected.
Chelsea were later bought by an investment group led by American businessman Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
The new ownership promised to change the face of the club and has invested more than £600m in player transfers across two windows.
Chelsea said in a statement “During this period, the club was restricted in a number of areas including, but not limited to, its ability to sell matchday and season tickets, sell merchandise, accept event bookings, as well as sign contracts with players and commercial sponsorship partners, which collectively resulted in extraordinary expenses and loss of revenue,” .
“Furthermore, some of these limitations are also expected to have an impact on the financials in the following years due to the long-term impact from restrictions on entering into new contractual arrangements.”
It noted that their turnover figure increased to £481.3m from £434.9m the previous year, primarily due to increased matchday and commercial revenue as fans returned to stadiums after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the club’s commercial revenue also increased to £177.1m thanks to a net increase in sponsorship revenue from new contracts and existing partner renewals.
“The higher revenue was offset by increased operating expenses, including matchday and non-matchday costs that resulted from resumed operations and increased staff costs,” the club added.
“The above contributed to the group recording a loss before player impairments and one-off expenses of £26.6m for the year ended 30 June 2022, and an overall net loss of £121.3m.
“Despite the loss in the year and the operating challenges due to the sanctions, the club continues to comply with UEFA and Premier League financial regulations.”
Chelsea has struggled for a better performance this season. Their Coach, Graham Potter who was appointed last year September after the sacking of Thomas Tuchel has not been able to uplift the team to their top place in the league.
Although through to the Champions League quarterfinals,the club are 10th in the Premier League- a position which further cast a big shadow on the performance of the team.