Ukraine: Barclays Suspended Chelsea’s bank account, Credit Card

Chelsea’s bank accounts have been frozen, after the UK government sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich, the UK Times reports. The Blues have been given a special licence to continue with football related activities, but a proposed sale of the club has been put on hold.

The reason behind the suspension is that the bank requires time to assess the licence Chelsea have been given to continue football-related activities. Chelsea are hopeful the suspension will be lifted shortly.

The special license expires on May 31 2022, but HM Treasury may vary, revoke or suspend this license at any time. However, the club’s bank accounts have now been frozen, leaving the club facing ‘financial paralysis.

The UK government on Thursday gave Chelsea a licence to continue with football-related activities after Abramovich had his assets frozen, a prohibition on transactions with UK individuals and businesses, a travel ban and transport sanctions imposed on him.

The sanctions are intended to stop the 55-year-old from making any money in the UK, but the government has granted Chelsea a special licence to allow fixtures to be fulfilled, staff to be paid and existing ticket holders to attend matches.

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However, Chelsea cannot offer new contracts to players or staff, conduct any transfer business or sell new tickets to matches as things stand.

Barclays suspending Chelsea’s bank account is going to have serious, serious repercussions for the club. The issue Barclays have got is that the bank account is in the name of Chelsea but the owner is still Roman Abramovich, who has been sanctioned by the UK Government.

It’s well within their rights to withdraw banking services completely. But this is a temporary suspension and Chelsea are hopeful the suspension will be lifted shortly. The bank will want to be sure that Chelsea are spending the money on what the government have allowed them.