Roman Abramovich cops staggering new blow as Premier League steps in

The English Premier League has ordered Roman Abramovich to stop running Chelsea FC and sell the club immediately in an unprecedented move due to his links to Vladimir Putin.

The Russian billionaire had been sanctioned by the British government on Saturday over Russia's war with Ukraine and his close links to President Putin.

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And in a staggering move on Sunday, the Premier League board disqualified Abramovich from being a director at Chelsea, accelerating the end of the Russian oligarch's 19 years in control of the reigning world and European champions.

However the club that Abramovich transformed into perennial trophy winners through his investment has been allowed to play on.

League regulations would usually require Abramovich to relinquish control within 28 days, but the British government now has a say in the sale process under the terms of the license that allows the team to continue operating despite the owner's assets being frozen.

The government welcomed the Premier League's move against Abramovich, characterising the disqualification as being part of holding "those who have enabled the Putin regime" to account.

"We are open to a sale of the club and would consider an application for a license to allow that to happen," the government said.

The British government now has oversight of the buyout process which the Raine Group, an investment bank, has been working on since Abramovich last week announced that the club was up for sale.

One consortium weighing a bid features Todd Boehly (part owner of the MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers), Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and Jonathan Goldstein - a London-based property investor who is CEO of Cain International.

Nick Candy, the property developer husband of Australian actress Holly Valance, is also weighing up whether to make a bid.

Roman Abramovich can't benefit from sale of Chelsea

Abramovich originally hoped to divert the proceeds of a sale into a new foundation for the victims of the war in Ukraine, which he is yet to condemn Putin for launching.

But the government will only sanction a sale that does not see Abramovich benefit as the government tightens the screws on influential individuals it views as enabling Putin's regime.

The government did on Saturday ease one of the terms of the license restricting Chelsea's finances, raising the cap on match-day spending to run Stamford Bridge from Stg 500,000 to Stg 900,000 ($AU1.6 million) ahead of Sunday's Premier League game against Newcastle.

Chelsea had company credit cards from Barclaycard frozen as a result of the sanctions.

After disqualifying Abramovich, the Premier League confirmed that "the board's decision does not impact on the club's ability to train and play its fixtures."

Some Chelsea fans have continued to stand by Abramovich during the opening two weeks of the war, even chanting his name at a game last weekend that the league hoped to use to show solidarity to Ukraine and the victims of Russia's invasion.

Abramovich's disqualification by the Premier League halts the reign of the competition's first billionaire foreign owner, whose fortune turned Chelsea into one of the biggest-spending clubs in Europe and one of the game's most successful.

His investment ended Chelsea's 50-year domestic title drought when the league was won in 2005 and the trophy has been collected another four times.

The team has collected a whopping 21 trophies since 2004 thanks to big spending on players, with Abramovich inject more than $2.7 billion into Chelsea through loans he said he will not ask to be repaid.

On Sunday, Abramovich's 140-metre-long superyacht 'Solaris' was spotted arriving at the Porto Montenegro marina, having left the Spanish Mediterranean port of Barcelona on Tuesday.

with AAP

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