PESHAWAR: Leading businessman and owner of Pakistan Super League franchise Peshawar Zalmi is in the race to buy English football club Chelsea.
“Well, it seems that Pakistani Javed Afridi is a leading contender to buy Chelsea from Abramovich,” Spanish sports website Soy Madridista said in a Twitter post. Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea Football Club, has reportedly offered the club for sale after Moscow’s attack on Ukraine last week.
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Khaleej Times also reported that the owner of Peshawar Zalmi is keen to buy one of the world’s major football clubs. The newspaper reported that Afridi had a meeting with British officials and quoted sources as saying, “Afridi’s team met with Sports and Legal Agency in the UK on Wednesday afternoon. It is a group of investors interested in buying a Chelsea football club.” The report said that relevant authorities in the UK want someone from Asia to invest in the club.
Javed Afridi and his group of investors could face stiff competition from Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who claims to have received an offer from Abramovich. Russian billionaire Abramovich bought the club in June 2003 and turned it into one of the biggest teams in Europe. Chelsea has won five Premier League titles as well as five FA Cup trophies since Abramovich bought the club in 2003. The club has also won the Champions League twice, in 2012 and 2021.
Abramovich, 55, made the revelation on Wednesday, less than an hour before Chelsea’s victory in the fifth round of FA Cup. Abramovich plans to sell the club for $4 billion and has vowed to pay the proceeds of the sale to victims of Ukraine conflict for which he will establish welfare organisation.
Javed Afridi has confirmed to BBC that he is working with Saudi and British investors to acquire Chelsea.
