Who is Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and what's his net worth?
Profile of the Chelsea owner and one the richest men in Russia, who has overseen 18 years of trophies and managerial changes at Stamford Bridge.
Roman Abramovich (Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich) is a Russian-Israeli billionaire, businessman, investor, and politician. He is the majority owner of "Millhouse LLC," investment company, and the English Football Club Chelsea owner. In the period from 2000 to 2008, he was the governor of the Autonomous Province of Chukotka. He was born on October 24, 1966, in Saratov.
According to Forbes magazine, his fortune is estimated at 15.3 billion dollars in 2021. He is considered the richest man in Israel, the 11th richest man in Russia, and the 142nd richest man in the world. From 1999 to 2013, he donated about 2.5 billion dollars for school construction, hospitals, and infrastructure projects in the province of Chukotka.
His main business and source of wealth come from metal trade and investments.
Football as a passion or a lucrative investment
A proof that Roman Abramovich is a big fan of "the football pitch" was shown in 2003, when he bought the English Premier League club, Chelsea, for 60 million pounds. It was the biggest investment in the history of English football, and for many, it was utterly illogical because Chelsea was on the brink of an abyss at the time. The island media mostly inquired who bought one of the favorite English clubs, while the Russians accused him of wasting domestic capital on someone else's sport.
From taking over the club until now, Chelsea has won as many as 14 titles. They won the Champions League, the Europa League, were crowned Premier League champions five times, and lifted the FA Cup trophy four times and the League Cup three times. Chelsea became the second most trophy-winning English club in England. However, that period has been marked by frequent changes of coaches. The rule is that the expert who fails to achieve results within a certain period is immediately replaced.
Abramovich purchases CSKA
A year after the purchase of Chelsea, Abramovich bought the CSKA Football Club from Moscow. In March 2004, Sibneft signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the Moscow champions worth $ 58 million. According to UEFA rules, two clubs cannot be owned by the same man, so his official representative at CSKA was Alexander Garese. The sponsorship agreement with the Moscow club came under public scrutiny, as UEFA officials claimed Abramovich was in a conflict of interest. Despite that, the Russian magazine "Pro Sport" declared him the "most influential man in Russian football" in June 2004. In May the following year, CSKA won the UEFA Cup, and became the first Russian club to lift the trophy cup of a big European football competition.
The fact that Abramovich is one of the most influential people in Russia is also indicated by the fact that in 2006 he brought Guus Hiddink to manage the Russian national football team. Two years later, Russia played in the semi-finals of the European Championship, held in Austria and Switzerland.
Founded football academy
Among other things, Roman Abramovich founded the National Football Academy in Russia, organizing various projects for young football players in its camps for the last several years. It deals with constructing new and repair existing sports facilities and enables educational visits to clubs in England, the Netherlands, and Spain.