Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC

The sale of Chelsea FC in 2022 was one of the highest-profile and most controversial sports transactions of all time. In the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Roman Abramovich was forced to put his beloved club up for sale, and under the threat of bankruptcy and ruin, Chelsea pulled off a complex transaction in three tense and troubling months. Sanctioned chronicles those ninety-five extraordinary days in English football.

Through unprecedented access to Abramovich himself, key figures from Chelsea’s new ownership and a star-studded footballing cast, Nick Purewal unfolds a wide-ranging tale of political sanctions, hushed negotiations, Cold War-style geopolitics and even a foul-play poisoning episode, all set against the backdrop of a drawn-out war on the edge of Europe.

Four years on, the funds from the Chelsea sale, earmarked for humanitarian causes, remained frozen in a bank account. In this updated edition, Nick Purewal charts the fraught political and legal battles to unlock this capital, as well as the highs and lows of Chelsea’s 2025–26 season – from headline-grabbing wins to dramatic staff exits and mammoth fines.

Nick Purewal is a freelance reporter and writer with twenty years’ experience in news and sports journalism. Nick reported on the entirety of the Chelsea sale in his role as Chelsea correspondent at the Press Association, breaking the world exclusive that Roman Abramovich was working to help the early peace process between Russia and Ukraine and later the shock news that key bidders the Ricketts family had pulled out of the race to buy the club. Beginning his career at the Grimsby Telegraph, Nick has also worked for the Newcastle Chronicle, the Gloucester Citizen and the Evening Standard and now freelances for a variety of national outlets in addition to ghostwriting books and working on other long-form projects.

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