Chelsea fans set to attend FA Cup semi-final despite sanctions related to Roman Abramovich
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Published 21/03/2022 at 22:11 GMT
The Football Association and the government are in talks to allow Chelsea fans to take up their allocation of tickets for the forthcoming FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace. Ticket sales to Chelsea fans have been prohibited due to the sanctions on the club relating to owner Roman Abramovich's alleged links to Vladimir Putin.
Chelsea's Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku (R) celebrates with Chelsea's English midfielder Mason Mount (C) and Chelsea's US midfielder Christian Pulisic (L) after scoring the opening goal of the English FA cup quarter-final
Image credit: Getty Images
Chelsea are set to have a full complement of fans at their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.
The Football Association has been in negotiations with the government in order to allow the club to have supporters in attendance at Wembley Stadium.
Due to government sanctions against Roman Abramovich related to his alleged links with Vladimir Putin, the club are not able to sell tickets and only season ticket holders can attend their home matches.
Those sanctions have also included the freezing of Abramovich’s assets and the oligarch is aiming for a swift sale of the club to another investor.
At the weekend’s quarter-final fixture at Middlesbrough, only 700 fans attended to support Chelsea. The remaining 3,800 tickets were unsold at the time sanctions were imposed, meaning they were not taken up.
An FA Cup spokesperson said that work was being done to resolved the situation.
"This includes tickets for Chelsea supporters for their match against Crystal Palace," the statement read. "We are working with the government on a method to achieve this whilst respecting the sanctions that are currently in place on Chelsea."
Julian Knight, the chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, was also keen to see changes made.
"Chelsea is more than just its owner, it's a living organism with huge importance to its fans and community," he said.
"It was understandable that, at short notice, last week's game against Middlesbrough went ahead without Chelsea fans.
"But with this much notice, the FA have no excuse for excluding them. The FA must be allowed to sell tickets to Chelsea fans so long as all money goes to the people of Ukraine."
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