By Victor Kanayo
Reports from United Kingdom have indicated that proceeds from Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final gate receipts last season will be channelled to Ukraine as donation for humanitarian causes.
Specifically, the donation will come from Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final win over Crystal Palace at Wembley last April, which the governing body have held for almost 12 months as the club were unable to receive money after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned.
According to reports, around £2.3billion from Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s purchase of Chelsea is sitting in a frozen bank account a year after the Russian oligarch was sanctioned by the government.
It said the Football Association appear to have made more headway in getting money to Ukraine and have already identified several charities working on the ground to fund.
“The FA will donate all gate receipts that were due to go to Chelsea from the semi-final, but not the revenue from their defeat in the final to Liverpool last May.
“The final gate receipts are kept by the FA rather than given to the competing clubs, with much of it redistributed via prize money.
“The Abramovich donation to Ukraine has been held up by complex legal issues involving both the UK government and the European Union.
“Mike Penrose, the former Unicef UK chief executive, was appointed to lead a foundation to distribute the funds with a senior Norwegian diplomat and former United Nations special advisor Jan Egeland recruited as interim chairman,” the report said.
