Nick De Marco QC questions whether Premier League will require government to register as owner
A leading sports lawyer and barrister has questioned whether the Premier League will require the UK government to be officially registered as Chelsea FC’s owner following the decision to impose sanctions on Roman Abramovich.
In a social media post, Nick De Marco QC said: “Does the UK government now fall within the PL’s broad interpretation of ‘Control’ of Chelsea, and if so will the PL be requiring it to sign Owners and Directors form?
“According to the UK government website it would now appear to exercise considerable control over such fundamental club matters as the ability of the club to be sold or to transfer players and I had assumed the purpose of the OADT [owners’ and directors’ test] is to police those who have control over these core matters.”
Sanctions were imposed on Abramovich last week due to his close links with Russian president Vladimir Putin who ordered Russian forces to invade Ukraine almost three weeks ago.