In the upper level of the grandstand Matthew Harding inside the stadium of Stamford Bridgethe seat of Chelsea Football Clubthere is a flag of Russia, with the inscription in Cyrillic characters “Roman Empire“. That flag does not have a political symbol, but it was placed there by the fans: it is a demonstration of gratitude towards Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who bought Chelsea in 2003 and, by widening the cordons, quickly transformed the club into one of football’s modern superpowers. Serial winners in the Premier League and two-time European champions in less than ten years: victory in Champions League in 2012, under the guidance of the Italian Roberto Di Matteo; and last year.
Now it is likely, however, that that flag will be removed from the stadium: after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Scrooge was banned. And even the idea arises that even the club can be pulled out of his hands. The British government has decided that it will no longer be able to live in the United Kingdom, as a retaliatory move towards Moscow and the premier Vladimir Putin: blocking the economic interests of the many Russian oligarchs who have taken root in the UK. And they used the world of football as a trailblazer.
The pioneer Berezovsky
Abramovich, tycoon with a fortune estimated at 14 billion dollars (figure that puts it “only” 131st place in the world according to Forbes) was one of the first Russians to invest in London: after the privatization of the former Soviet empire under Boris Yeltsinin the early 1990s, the Russian oligarchs, a group of private entrepreneurs who emerged from the dissolution of the USSR, began to transform the English capital into a sort of five-star “Monopoly”, paying billions of rubles that left Moscow: they have amassed everyone’s assets, from real estate to luxury cars.
Among the pioneers, Boris Berezovskyowner of the automotive giant AutoVAZ , and his “dolphin” Abramovich. The English corporate-legal system, few controls and little bureaucracy, has favored for years theinflow of Russian capital. With the purchase, for the first time in history, of a football team from the Premier League, from a Russian, something clicks. Football was a qualitative leap: until then the Russian oligarchs were showing off their wealth in London, but they were all in all second-rate figures, they were not part of the establishment.
Thanks to Chelsea, Abramovich becomes a public figure, but above all powerful. It is therefore untouchable, because it openly finances the Conservative party. Timing is crucial: the turning point coincides with the rise of Vladimir Putin, who was elected president of Russia in April 2000.