Former Chelsea owner Abramovich was indeed involved in the SBV Vitesse Arnhem takeover. This is evident from leaked documents, which have been viewed by The Guardian and a group of investigative journalists. In total, the Russian oligarch is said to have put 117 million euros in the Arnhem club through loans to a subsidiary.
Roman Abramovich secretly pumped 117 million euros into SBV Vitesse Arnhem
The suspicions that SBV Vitesse Arnhem had ties with Roman Abramovich had existed for some time. The KNVB already investigated in 2010 what role the then owner of Chelsea played in the takeover of the Arnhem club by Georgian Merab Jordania, who was friends with the Russian.
In July 2014 the ties between former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and SBV Vitesse Arnhem were noticed. At the time, the purchase of SBV Vitesse Arnhem had been finalized by people employed by Chelsea, which had stored various players in Arnhem for years.
After that, SBV Vitesse Arnhem actually ended up in Russian hands with Alexander Chigirinskyi and Valery Oyf as owners, but the suspicions about Roman Abramovich’s involvement could never be substantiated. That double cap is not allowed for owners according to UEFA rules. Clubs playing against each other in the same UEFA competition must be run independently.
In March 2022, the Roman Abramovich empire collapsed. Due to the international sanctions imposed on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. A year later it turns out that SBV Vitesse Arnhem was indeed financed by the 56-year-old businessman. According to The Guardian, leaked documents show that at least 117 million euros have been secretly funneled to Arnhem through a series of obscure offshore tax havens. This would cover the period up to the end of 2015.
For SBV Vitesse Arnhem standards, this is a huge amount. The British newspaper notes that the budget of the Arnhemmers in the 2014/15 season was about fourteen million euros. The annual figures showed that the owners kept the club financially for years. Coley Parry is currently the new intended owner, but is still awaiting approval from the KNVB. Meanwhile, SBV Vitesse Arnhem’s license is in danger due to a disagreement about renting the Gelredome stadium.
