{"id":205846,"date":"2022-03-17T15:36:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T22:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=205846"},"modified":"2022-03-17T16:13:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T23:13:15","slug":"ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine’s Parimatch Withdraws Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parimatch<\/a> has withdrawn its sponsorship of the English Premier League\u2019s Chelsea FC<\/a>. The move followed a decision on Tuesday by the European Union to impose sanctions on the team\u2019s owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.<\/p>\n

\"roman
Roman Abramovich celebrates Chelsea\u2019s Club World Cup win against Brazil\u2019s Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi in February, just weeks before Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. (Image: The Sun)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAfter considering the situation, we have decided to pause all joint marketing and brand campaigns with the club featuring the Parimatch logo and brand,” the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In early March, the company announced it would donate US$1 million to Ukraine\u2019s military. It also pulled its services out of Russia, one of its biggest markets.<\/p>\n

Parimatch was founded in Kyiv in 1994 and is now headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. It entered into a three-year official partnership with Chelsea in August 2021 through its international product company, Parimatch Tech.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ties to Putin\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Parimatch is the latest of a host of sponsors to walk away from Chelsea because of its controversial owner\u2019s links to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

Last week, the team\u2019s main jersey sponsor, mobile network Three, tore up their agreement. That was shortly after the UK government imposed its own sanctions on Abramovich, freezing his assets, Chelsea included.<\/p>\n

Abramovich made his billions after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His political connections helped him buy-up state-owned assets at knockdown prices.<\/p>\n

The EU said Tuesday he had \u201clong and close ties to Vladimir Putin,\u201d adding that he had \u201cprivileged access to the president, and has maintained very good relations with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Sanctions leave Chelsea unable to sign players, renew contracts, or sell match tickets or merchandise until a buyer is found. It\u2019s an extraordinary situation for the reigning European champions and World Club champions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale for \u00a33 billion (US$3.95 billion) shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, anticipating he would be targeted with sanctions.<\/p>\n

But the asset freeze means he can only sell the club if he does not profit from the sale. Abramovich previously claimed he would donate any proceeds from the sale to \u201call victims of the war in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s Next Owner?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, prospective billionaire buyers are lining up to get their hands on one of the world’s truly elite soccer teams. These include a consortium led by Ted Boehly, coowner of the of MLB\u2019s LA Dodgers, the NBA\u2019s LA Lakers, and the WNBA\u2019s LA Sparks. He also owns a big chunk of DraftKings.<\/p>\n

Also in the mix is billionaire Woody Johnson, owner of the NFL\u2019s New York Jets and the ambassador to the UK under Trump. And the Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs, has also confirmed they will make a bid.<\/p>\n

Despite EU sanctions, Chelsea\u2019s Champions League game against French club Lille was permitted to go ahead on Wednesday. The English team ran out 4-1 winners over two legs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parimatch has withdrawn its sponsorship of the English Premier League\u2019s Chelsea FC. The move followed a decision on Tuesday by the European Union to impose sanctions on the team\u2019s owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. \u201cAfter considering the situation, we have decided to pause all joint marketing and brand campaigns with the club featuring the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":205847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUkraine's Parimatch Ditches Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Parimatch, a sports betting site founded by Ukrainians, is the latest Chelsea sponsor back out over Roman Abramovich Kremlin links.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukraine's Parimatch Ditches Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Parimatch, a sports betting site founded by Ukrainians, is the latest Chelsea sponsor back out over Roman Abramovich Kremlin links.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-17T22:36:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-17T23:13:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"771\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/\",\"name\":\"Ukraine's Parimatch Ditches Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-17T22:36:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T23:13:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Parimatch, a sports betting site founded by Ukrainians, is the latest Chelsea sponsor back out over Roman Abramovich Kremlin links.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":771,\"caption\":\"Roman Abramovich celebrates Chelsea\u2019s Club World Cup win against Brazil\u2019s Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi in February, just weeks before Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. (Image: The Sun)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politics\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/politics\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Ukraine’s Parimatch Withdraws Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ukraine's Parimatch Ditches Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions","description":"Parimatch, a sports betting site founded by Ukrainians, is the latest Chelsea sponsor back out over Roman Abramovich Kremlin links.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ukraine's Parimatch Ditches Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions","og_description":"Parimatch, a sports betting site founded by Ukrainians, is the latest Chelsea sponsor back out over Roman Abramovich Kremlin links.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-03-17T22:36:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-17T23:13:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":771,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/","name":"Ukraine's Parimatch Ditches Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-17T22:36:46+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-17T23:13:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Parimatch, a sports betting site founded by Ukrainians, is the latest Chelsea sponsor back out over Roman Abramovich Kremlin links.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/roman-abramovich.jpg","width":1200,"height":771,"caption":"Roman Abramovich celebrates Chelsea\u2019s Club World Cup win against Brazil\u2019s Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi in February, just weeks before Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. (Image: The Sun)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ukraines-parimatch-ditches-chelsea-fc-sponsorship-after-eu-sanctions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politics","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/politics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ukraine’s Parimatch Withdraws Chelsea FC Sponsorship After EU Sanctions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}