Because they are not allowed to sell tickets themselves, Chelsea FC have made an application for their FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday that has caused head-scratching.
The sanctions against Roman Abramovich continue to have unusual consequences at Chelsea FC. Because the trip to Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final at second division side FC Middlesbrough – unlike the one to the Champions League last 16 second leg at Lille – had not been planned before they came into force, the Champions League winners face a bus journey of around ten hours due to a lack of budget for a flight.
However, something else caused far more of a stir around the cup match: On Tuesday, Chelsea applied to the FA “with extreme reluctance” to play the match in front of empty stands – “for reasons of sporting integrity”. Previously, the club had tried in vain to get permission to sell guest tickets for the game; allegedly, it would even have been prepared to give them away.
The fact that Chelsea are now insisting that no Middlesbrough fans will be allowed into the stadium either, calling this the “fairest course of action in the current circumstances”, quickly caused outrage not only on social media – and, among other things, led to the ironic question of whether the Blues will consequently play their home games without spectators in future; after all, guest fans have also not been allowed at Stamford Bridge since last week.
Middlesbrough shoot out against Chelsea
Middlesbrough castigated Chelsea’s push in a statement as “bizarre in every way and completely unfounded”. The sanctions against Chelsea had “nothing to do with Middlesbrough FC” and therefore it was “not only extremely unfair, but without any basis whatsoever” to now also punish the home fans. The fact that Chelsea, of all clubs, spoke of “integrity” was “highly ironic”.
It is unlikely that the FA will grant the request. Even among some Chelsea fans it might not have gone down particularly well: several hundred had already secured tickets for the Middlesbrough game before the sanctions against Abramovich.
