Chelsea ask for FA Cup tie to be played behind closed doors, Blues unable to sell tickets for Middlesbrough

Chelsea have asked the FA to move their quarterfinal match against Middlesbrough behind closed doors as they will be unable to sell tickets to away supporters for the game.

The Blues have been in dialogue with the British government over amending the terms of the special license under which they have operated since Thursday, when owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned due to his links with Vladimir Putin. The terms of that license currently mean that Chelsea are unable to sell any additional tickets for home or away matches, something which the club have been pushing to change since its implementation.

However, they have failed to reach an agreement with the British government in time, meaning they are unable to sell any tickets for the trip to the northeast. Chelsea are now of the belief that if they cannot have any supporters at the Riverside Stadium neither should Middlesbrough, who have sold out every home ticket at their ground, which has a capacity of nearly 35,000.

“Despite engaging in extensive discussions with the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), the deadline to purchase away tickets has passed without appropriate amendments being made to the Government license which would allow a full allocation of Chelsea supporters to attend,” said Chelsea in a statement. “Executives at Middlesbrough had been kind enough to extend their deadline for ticket sales and stadium allocation from 7.30pm last night until 9.30am this morning.

“It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity. Chelsea FC recognizes that such an outcome would have a huge impact on Middlesbrough and its supporters, as well as our own fans who have already bought the limited number of tickets that were sold before the license was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.

“We will continue to discuss the issue of ticket sales with OFSI as there are a number of fixtures still to be played this season and we hope to reach a resolution.”

In response Championship side Middlesbrough, who beat Manchester United and Tottenham to reach the last eight, asked why they should be punished due to Abramovich’s links with a Russian regime that is waging war in Ukraine. 

“We are aware of Chelsea’s request to have Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup sixth round tie played behind closed doors and find their suggestion both bizarre and without any merit whatsoever,” said their statement. “All concerned are well aware of the reasons Chelsea have been sanctioned and that this has nothing to do with Middlesbrough Football Club.

“To suggest as result that MFC and our fans should be penalised is not only grossly unfair but without any foundation. Given the reasons for these sanctions, for Chelsea to seek to invoke sporting “integrity” as reason for the game being played behind closed doors is ironic in the extreme.

“We currently await formal notification from the FA of the next steps but rest assured MFC will resist Chelsea’s actions in the strongest terms.”

Meanwhile the FA released a statement saying, “We are aware of Chelsea FC’s request to play their Emirates FA Cup quarterfinal tie against Middlesbrough FC behind closed doors. The matter will be discussed at the Professional Game Board meeting tomorrow.”

At the time of the statement FA chief executive Mark Bullingham was addressing the House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, coming under fire for refusing to order Chelsea to play the game. Steven Brine, Conservative MP for Winchester, said he should “tell Chelsea to get their shin pads and their boots on and play the damn game.”

Bullingham said: “Their argument is that not having one set of fans has an impact on the sporting competition. When we step back and look at what the government is trying to achieve with the sanction on Mr Abramovich it’s clearly to put pressure on Mr Putin. I don’t believe it’s the intention to prevent Chelsea fans from going to games or indeed for away fans to come to Stamford Bridge.

“I also recognise it’s incredibly complicated to put a sanction in place at short notice and so my answer is I hope and expect that fans will be allowed to both attend Stamford Bridge and away games.

“My personal point of view is I would expect the game to go ahead but I can’t say more than that as it would prejudice the discussions.”

Their request may also open them up to tit for tat responses in future games. Brentford said on Thursday that they were awaiting clarity on what would happen with the away tickets they had not yet put on sale while future opponents including Wolverhampton Wanderers have no agreement over allocations in place and as such could not sell tickets unless a new license was in place. In these circumstances those clubs might reasonably suggest that if Chelsea’s away games must be played behind closed doors for reasons of “sporting integrity” they should also lose any advantage that they might gain from the presence of Stamford Bridge’s season ticket holders.

The 530 mile round trip to Middlesbrough will be all the more complicated for Chelsea with their travel costs limited to $26,300 (£20,000) by the terms of the license. That will not be a problem for their visit to Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday but eventually, manager Thomas Tuchel acknowledged, changes would have to be made.

“There are restrictions and we have to deal with them,” he said. “There are adjustments in the amount of staff, who is travelling, how many rooms we have in hotels and how we arrive at matches. There will come some, to my understanding, that we can arrive at on a professional level.

“It isn’t about luxury and bling-bling. This is just a professional level of sports, where we play with two days between matches with our opponent having four days between matches and we arrive with the possibilities of injuries. For that, it is better to arrive with a plane rather than a bus.

“We try to do it. From my understanding, we have a framework to go and play in Lille with absolutely no excuses. Regarding these organizations, it is already more difficult to arrange things on a professional level, in the best way possible, for the FA Cup. But we will deal with it.

“As long as we have shirts and are alive as a team, we will be competitive and fight hard for our success. We owe it to the people who support us in a very invisible way. Of course, we are in the spotlight and it is our responsibility to do so. We will do it.”

Speaking after his manager, Chelsea playmaker Kai Havertz said he would be willing to cover his own travel costs if needed. “There are harder things in the world right now than if we have to take the bus or plane to an away game,” he added.

Such turbulence off the pitch has yet to impact on Chelsea’s on field results so far with Havertz netting a late winner to carry the Blues to a 1-0 win over Newcastle on Sunday. The German acknowledged, however, that he and his team mates were not finding it straightforward to maintain their focus.

“Everyone knows it’s not easy,” he told CBS Sports. “You always try to focus on the games. Such a situation has never happened at Chelsea before, it’s a little bit strange of course. We are professionals and sometimes situations like this can happen.

“It’s not easy for us all, especially the whole club, the fans. The best we can do in the moment is play good football, try to give the fans a smile in these kind of situations. Everything is tough for us in the moment but as we saw on the weekend we can handle these situations and hopefully tomorrow as well.”