Arabic version: أموال بيع تشيلسي المجمّدة تحقق 175 مليون جنيه إسترليني فوائد

According to The Guardian, proceeds from Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea FC have earned at least £175m in interest while frozen in a UK bank account. Accounts for Fordstam, the company through which Abramovich owned Chelsea, show the sale proceeds have risen from £2.3bn to nearly £2.5bn since the transaction was completed in May 2022.

Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK in 2022 over his ties to Vladimir Putin and had pledged to donate the money to victims of the war in Ukraine. The funds have not been released, however, because of a legal dispute with the British government over how they should be used. The £2.5bn remains in a Barclays account.

The accounts show the money earned £114m in interest in 2024 and nearly £63m in the previous year. Stefan Borson, head of sport at law firm McCarthy Denning, said the interest meant Fordstam appeared to be “the most profitable football-related business in the world”, while adding that the accounts gave no further indication of progress in distributing the sale proceeds.

The UK government wants the funds earmarked for humanitarian causes in Ukraine and has continued preparations for possible legal action after Abramovich missed a March 2026 deadline to free up the money. There is also uncertainty over £1.4bn in loans linked to Abramovich’s Camberley International Investment vehicle. Jersey prosecutors are separately investigating whether Chelsea sale proceeds could constitute proceeds of crime as part of a corruption and money-laundering inquiry.