No excuse to keep Chelsea fans out

LONDON • Chelsea fans must not be punished by the sanctions on the club's owner and should be allowed to buy tickets for the FA Cup semi-final clash against Crystal Palace next month, the chair of a UK parliamentary committee said on Monday.

The Blues are dealing with government restrictions on their operations after sanctions were imposed on their Russian owner Roman Abramovich following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The government's special licence allows them to play fixtures and pay staff but limits the sale of tickets and merchandise. Tickets can be sold only if amendments are made to the licence.

"It is ridiculous that we face the prospect of a half-full Wembley for the Chelsea versus Palace FA Cup semi-final," said Mr Julian Knight, chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee.

"Chelsea is more than just its owner, it's a living organism with huge importance to its fans and community. It was understandable that, at short notice, last week's game against Middlesbrough went ahead without Chelsea fans.

"But with this much notice, the FA have no excuse for excluding them. The FA must be allowed to sell tickets to Chelsea fans so long as all money goes to the people of Ukraine."

Chelsea were not allowed to sell their full allocation of tickets for the 2-0 quarter-final win at Middlesbrough, with the club requesting it be played behind closed doors in the interest of "sporting integrity" - a request they withdrew after intense criticism.

The club said last week they were in discussions with the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation but could not make the appropriate amendments to the licence in time to sell tickets for the quarter-final game.

The FA said it was working with the government to ensure tickets are sold while "respecting the sanctions" that were placed on Chelsea.

"We hope to have sell-out crowds at both of our FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley Stadium. This includes tickets for Chelsea supporters for their match against Crystal Palace," an FA spokesman said.

Chelsea were put up for sale by Abramovich before sanctions were imposed on the oligarch by the British government, effectively giving it control of the club.

The club's sale is currently being overseen by US bank Raine Group.

 

Meanwhile, former Chelsea and Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko has said that he will use his platform to tell the world the truth about Russia's invasion of his country and step up efforts to raise humanitarian aid for victims of the crisis.

 

"The response from all round the globe has been fantastic, but the situation is getting worse. More people are dying, so we all need to do more, and we need to do it now," he told The Times newspaper.

Shevchenko has launched a campaign called "Play Your Part for Ukraine" which hopes to raise an initial £2 million (S$3.6 million) to help those affected.

Separately, swimwear maker Speedo has ended its sponsorship with Russia's double Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov after he attended a rally hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week, Olympics news website insidethegames reported.

The sport's world governing body Fina said in a statement that it was "deeply disappointed" by the appearance of Rylov - who won gold in the 100 and 200 metres backstroke at last year's Tokyo Olympics - at the rally.

Leading Russian chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has also been suspended from playing for six months for publicly supporting Russia's invasion on social media, the game's world governing body Fide announced on Monday.

The Kremlin responded yesterday by telling Fide to stay out of politics and demanded it annul its decision to ban Karjakin.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE