EXCLUSIVE: FA donate £1million from Chelsea gate receipts to Ukraine
FA to donate £1m in gate receipts to Ukrainian charities from Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final last April after FINALLY obtaining the funds from Roman Abramovich’s sale of the club
- The FA are set to donate £1million for Ukrainian charities from FA Cup gates
- Proceeds from Chelsea’s semi-final win over Crystal Palace will go to charities
- The money had been held following sanctions against Roman Abramovich
The FA are ready to donate almost £1million in gate receipts from Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final last season to Ukrainian charities in a move that will highlight the lack of progress in handing over the proceeds from Roman Abramovich’s sale of the club to humanitarian causes.
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.
The FA appear to have made more headway in getting money to Ukraine and have already identified several charities working on the ground to fund.
The donation will come from the proceeds of 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 Abramovich was sanctioned.
The gate receipts from Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley last year are to be donated to Ukrainian charities
Roman Abramovich’s donation has been held up by complex legal issues in the UK and Europe
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.
Chelsea beat Crystal Palace at Wembley and the gate receipts will finally be donated
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