Fmr. Chelsea Owner Helped Support Dutch Club Despite Sanctions

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Abramovich loans fund owner of Dutch football club
The owner of a leading Dutch football club has funded it with loans from Roman Abramovich, leaked documents suggest, fuelling questions about the continued influence the Russian oligarch, under sanctions from the EU and UK, still has on football.

Details of the arrangement involving Valery Oyf, who took over ownership of Vitesse Arnhem in 2018, have been uncovered by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ).

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More on Geopolitics at Vitesse and how ‘Chelsea B’ were swallowed by Abramovich associates

The fans of the Eredivisie club hoped takeovers would transform their fortunes, but instead they face an existential threat to their future.

Abramovich loans fund owner of Dutch football club, leaked documents suggest

Files indicate oligarch enabled Valery Oyf to take over Vitesse Arnhem, raising fresh questions about his influence on football

www.theguardian.com

Geopolitics comes to Vitesse: how ‘Chelsea B’ were swallowed by Abramovich associates | Jacob Steinberg

Fans of the Eredivisie club hoped takeovers would transform their fortunes, but instead they face an existential threat to their future

www.theguardian.com

 

[Webster]

Per the Guardian...

The owner of a leading Dutch football club has funded it with loans from Roman Abramovich, leaked documents suggest, fuelling questions about the continued influence the Russian oligarch, under sanctions from the EU and UK, still has on football. Details of the arrangement involving Valery Oyf, who took over ownership of Vitesse Arnhem in 2018, have been uncovered by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ).

The papers raise questions about whether Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea FC, is still involved with a European club despite being subject to sanctions in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

They have emerged three weeks after the Dutch football association (KNVB) deducted Vitesse 18 points for breaching its licensing regulations, officially confirming their relegation from the Eredivisie, the Netherlands’ top flight.

The KNVB started investigating Vitesse after reporting by the Guardian and TBIJ uncovered apparent financial ties between the club and Abramovich involving the club’s two previous owners. The KNVB said the club had been given a record sanction because of repeated breaches of licensing rules and withholding information. It added that there were “indications” that Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea had controlled, or still controlled, the club and that there are risks of violation of sanctions and money laundering.

The Dutch ministry of economic affairs and climate change is investigating whether there any links between Vitesse and Abramovich, in the light of EU sanctions imposed on him in 2022, as part of an international effort to target wealthy and powerful Kremlin allies in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Further urgent questions have been raised by new documents suggesting that Abramovich was the source of almost all of the money, almost $200m (£160m), used by Oyf to fund an offshore company, Matteson Overseas Ltd.

The documents are part of the Cyprus Confidential files, shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism and Paper Trail Media.