Chelsea has asked for its FA Cup game against Middlesbrough to be played without a crowd because the government won바카라t allow it to sell any tickets under the terms of its license to operate after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned. (More Football News)
Chelsea said it made the request to protect the 바카라sporting integrity바카라 of the quarterfinal after being unable to convince the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation to ease the terms of its license ahead of Saturday바카라s game.
Middlesbrough said it would be 바카라grossly unfair but without any foundation바카라 to prevent its fans from going to the game.
Abramovich바카라s assets were frozen after he was sanctioned by the British government last week over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the start of the war on Ukraine.
바카라Given the reasons for these sanctions, for Chelsea to seek to invoke sporting 바카라integrity바카라 as reason for the game being played behind closed doors is ironic in the extreme,바카라 Middlesbrough said in a statement.
The FA will discuss Chelsea바카라s request at a meeting on Wednesday.
바카라It is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity,바카라 Chelsea said in a statement. 바카라Chelsea FC recognizes that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the license was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.바카라
Chelsea would have been allowed fans at Middlesbrough who had already bought tickets before Abramovich was sanctioned.
바카라One of our priorities is to uphold the integrity of the game and Chelsea will have a limited number of fans at the Middlesbrough game,바카라 the government said in a statement. 바카라We are working to ensure more away fans can attend games, but this must be compatible with the license so we ensure that no additional revenue can be raised given the club is owned by an individual now sanctioned both in the UK and EU .바카라
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham was taking questions from legislators in London at a hearing on Russia sanctions when news of Chelsea바카라s request broke.
바카라When we step back and look at what the government is trying to achieve with the sanctions on Mr. Abramovich, it바카라s clearly to put pressure on Mr Putin,바카라 Bullingham said. 바카라I don바카라t believe the intention is to prevent Chelsea fans going to games or away fans to come to Stamford Bridge. It바카라s incredibly complicated to put a sanction in place at short notice, and that will all need working through.
바카라I think the end state will be something where the government lends a licence to allow fans to go to games. I think that hasn바카라t been possible in time for this weekend.바카라
