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On Sunday, the only merchandise available to fans was provided by vendors outside the stadium pitch. Inside the arena, some bars and restaurants were open to fans who paid for the hospitality before the government sanctioned Abramovich last week for his ties to the Kremlin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Premier League, meanwhile, was facing its own tough questions. Among them: How can a person like Abramovich, whose ties to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin are not so secret, be allowed to enjoy the fame and popularity that comes with owning one of the clubs with a rare sporting presence in global sport? significance, for so long?
Sunday’s guest Newcastle United arrived with its own luggage. Just a few months ago, the Premier League approved the sale of Newcastle – over opposition from human rights groups – to a group led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. In the months since then, Saudi human rights abuses and own war against a neighbor it just got louder.
From a Premier League perspective, the timing of the Chelsea-Newcastle matchup – the collision of the two most pressing PR concerns – couldn’t have been worse. On Saturday, the league allows arms dealers and human rights violators to have teams disqualification Abramovic has decided that, despite being the owner for 19 years, he no longer has the right to serve as club director. On the same day, Saudi Arabia confirmed that he was also. executed 81 peopleThe kingdom’s largest mass execution in recent years.
There was little talk of sanctions and death sentences among the thousands who came to see their favorite teams. Newcastle had fans dancing in the streets in October to celebrate the sale to Saudi Arabian interests, hoping the kingdom’s wealth could quickly pull the club back, along with rivals like Chelsea. On Sunday, a few of them entered Stamford Bridge, taunting their rivals and saying, “We are richer than you.”
Yet even as the British government said oligarchs like Abramovich “had the blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands,” Chelsea fans remained fiercely loyal to the man who had brought them to the top of world football.
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