Roman Abramovich, Russian oligarch and first of the football billionaires

It’s the end of a love story of almost twenty years. Roman Abramovich announced on Wednesday March 2 that he was going to sell the English club Chelsea, which he has owned since 2003 and which he has raised with the help of his fortune to the top of football. An additional consequence of the invasion of Ukraine initiated by Vladimir Putin, of which Roman Abramovich is reputed to be close.

The Russian fears the caudine forks of the Europeans. He had already distanced himself from the club a few days earlier, delegating management to his foundation. But, as the noose tightens in the United Kingdom on the Russian oligarchs, he had to resolve to sell.

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For the time being, the billionaire who, in addition to the prestigious London club, also owns a huge residence in the upscale district of Kensington in the British capital, still escapes the wrath of London, which has already frozen the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin. , and many devotees. But Boris Johnson’s government is threatening to sanction more oligarchs deemed close to the Kremlin, fueling speculation that Abramovich will be added to the list.

Vladimir Putin’s most famous opponent, Alexei Navalny, regularly makes him a priority target for new sanctions. “Why the hell isn’t Abramovich being punished?” British Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer asks Boris Johnson.

Close to Yeltsin, then to Putin

Born in Saratov, in the south of Russia, on October 24, 1966, orphaned at an early age and raised by his uncle, the young Roman grew up partly in the Russian Far North. He studied mathematics in Moscow, before going into business, founding SMEs, thanks to “perestroika”, the policy of liberalization of the economy of the USSR initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev from 1986 to the fall of the regime in 1991.

He turns out to be a gifted entrepreneur, with formidable methods. He cut his teeth in import-export, particularly of hydrocarbons. When the government sells the majority of the shares of the vast oil group Sibneft for 100 million dollars – a fraction of their real value, the securities end up in Abramovich’s portfolio. From oil to aluminum to the automobile, his fortune is growing rapidly.

Having several strings to his bow, he financed Boris Yeltsin’s campaign for the 1991 presidential election, and when the latter approached his exit, he helped finance that of his successor, Vladimir Putin. When the new president decides to regain control of the Russian oligarchy, Roman Abramovich opts for caution and distances himself from the “family” of the former head of state. He thus escaped the fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an opponent in exile after years in prison, or his business partner Boris Berezovsky, a fierce critic of power found dead at home in 2013, in England. On the contrary, Putin will know how to reward him: Gazprom buys the shares of Sibneft for 11.7 billion euros, a golden price, while other oligarchs less close to the Kremlin are forced to sell off their assets that the state wants. redeem.

“The pact between the oligarchs and Putin was I let you do what you want, on the condition that you give a financial helping hand when I ask for it and that you do not rebel against me”, explains Lukas Aubin, specialist in the geopolitics of Russia and sport, associate researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris) and author of “La Sportokratura sous Vladimir Poutine. A geopolitics of Russian sport” (ed. Bréal, 2021), in an interview on BFM. “The ‘Sportokratura’ is a system that uses oligarchs, politicians and sports people to build an ultra-efficient sports model. The politicians are responsible for organizing sport, the oligarchs for financing it and athletes to broadcast it”, explains Lukas Aubin to France 24.

A belated love for football

The oligarch fell in love with football in the early 2000s. A belated love that owes a lot to Israeli agent Pinhas “Pini” Zavahi, known in France for having negotiated Neymar’s transfer to PSG, who invited him to Old Trafford in the quarter-finals of the return of the Champions League: a frenzied match between Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Manchester United are not for sale, however, so the Russian is falling back on London and the Chelsea club. He takes out the checkbook and spends lavishly. From the 2003 transfer window, four of the ten most expensive players of the summer signed with the Blues (Crespo, Duff, Veron, Makélélé). Year after year, the expensive arrivals of Didier Drogba in 2004 (38.5 million euros), Michael Essien in 2005 (38 million euros) or the Ukrainian Andreï Shevchenko in 2006 (44 million euros) will break records.

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Without knowing it, Roman Abramovich will launch a movement: that of club takeovers by billionaires and sovereign funds. In the Premier League, Manchester City is bought by the Abu Dhabi investment fund. Others will follow in European football from Qatar to Red Bull via Châteauroux bought by a Saudi prince. Latest example with the takeover of Newcastle by a Saudi fund.

English football is not a fan of this new rich man. The London club becomes the most hated in the Premier League. “Chelsea FC, you’ve got no history”, sing to him in particular the supporters of Liverpool. The arrival of José Mourinho, coach with a more than divisive personality, does not help the public relations of the “Blues”. However, the club is building a thick track record thanks to the billions of its oligarch. Under Roman Abramovich, Chelsea have won 21 trophies.

However, at home, the Russians cry treason. Why should his millions finance English football and not that of the mother country? To make amends, Abramovich also sponsors CSKA Moscow, bails out the national team by paying the coach out of its funds, finances the construction of mini-football pitches for children. He also plays a role in the organization of the Sochi Olympics and the 2018 World Cup.

At the same time, he is also governor of Chukotka, the region at the northeastern end of the country. Thanks to his investments and donations, the province’s economy took off. The budget is multiplied, the average salary increases and living conditions improve. But Abramovich has little taste for politics, he offers his resignation several times, but remains in office as long as Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev do not authorize it. He was freed in 2008.

He continues to invest in the arts in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow, in his Chelsea club which won its first Champions League in 2012, but also in multiple start-ups. He is also looking for a new base. Switzerland refuses but Israel offers him a passport in 2018.

A role to play in the peace talks

In Great Britain, on the other hand, his life quickly becomes complicated. The annexation by Russia of Crimea in 2014 creates a first cold. The assassination of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian agent turned British agent, in England in 2018, completes the divorce. The Russian oligarchs, especially very close to Putin like Abramovich, are gradually becoming personæ non gratæ in the United Kingdom.

Between 2018 and February 2022, Abramovich was only able to return to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea’s home stadium, once: it was in November 2021 for the draw between Chelsea and Manchester United.

After the Russian invasion in Ukraine, he was asked by the Ukrainians to play a role in the peace talks taking place on the Belarusian border. A role that was offered to him because of his closeness to Vladimir Putin, but also to Jewish communities, including that of Ukraine from which Abramovich’s maternal family came. The family of his grandparents are even among the victims of the Babi Yar massacre.

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Roman Abramovich, however, seems to disapprove of the war waged by Vladimir Putin. In his statement, he said the “net proceeds” from the sale of Chelsea would be donated to a “charitable foundation for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine”.

Her daughter is less ambiguous about her opinions. On her Instagram account, Sofia Abramovich did not hesitate to post an anti-war message: “Russia wants a war with Ukraine”, but where the word “Russia” is crossed out and replaced by the word “Putin”…