Premier League side Chelsea Football Club have been essentially banned from all transfer activities, football revenue generating activities that include match tickets sales following sanctions imposed on owner Roman Abramovic by the Government of the United Kingdom, as part of its steps to clamp down on Russian oligarchs deemed allies of Russia president, Vladimir Putin.

The UK Government has imposed sanctions of the Chelsea owner, Abramovic, who is one of seven Russian oligarchs who have been sanctioned, which has seen their assets frozen and as well hit with travel bans.

Roman Abramovic has had his UK assets frozen which includes Chelsea, prohibited from transacting business with UK individuals and businesses, hit with a travel ban and transport sanctions. The UK Government has stated, that Chelsea would be given a special licence to operate, but only existing ticket holders can attend games. As part of the new sanctions, Chelsea have been restricted from spending more than £20,000 on any away game travel, starting with their Champions League game against Ligue 1 side Lille away next Wednesday

The UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said, that “Today’s sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies”.

Chelsea’s owner Abramovic, 55, has been accused of having strong ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, an allegation he has since denied. The new sanctions of the Russian puts his possibility of his decision to sell Chelsea in serious doubt, given that the property has currently be seized by the UK Government.

But in all these are the detailed ban’s laid on Chelsea teams from:

• Offering new contracts to players or staff – Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta see their deals expire on June 30
• Conducting any official transfer business, including women’s team
• Selling new tickets to any game for any of their teams – including women and junior sides (season-ticket holders and existing ticket holders only)
• Selling merchandise to fans (existing merchandise can be sold via third parties)
• No stadium work or redevelopment
• Spending over £500,000 on security, stewarding and catering costs per home match and over £20,000 expenses per away games