Roman Abramovich completes $5.3 billion sale of Chelsea FC to group led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and Clearlake investment firm

• Roman Abramovich is officially no longer the owner of Chelsea FC after the sale completed on Monday.
• LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and investment firm Clearlake Capital Group are now in charge.

Roman Abramovich has completed the $5.3 billion sale of Chelsea Football Club nearly three months after the Russian oligarch was hit by Western sanctions.

The club said in a statement on Monday that the group led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and investment company Clearlake Capital Group had taken on ownership of the Premier League soccer team.

Clearlake and Boehly, who will be chairman of the holding firm, will have joint control and leadership of the club, Chelsea FC said.

Abramovich announced he was selling Chelsea FC on March 2 after 19 years of ownership. Eight days later, he was sanctioned by the UK over his close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a separate statement on Monday, Chelsea FC's board of directors said the sanctions on Abramovich "presented unique and unforeseen challenges" to the sale.

"A transaction such as this would normally take nine months to a year to complete; we did it in less than three months," the board said in the statement.

Abramovich wanted the new owner to be a "good steward" of Chelsea FC and requested that all of the proceeds from the sale go to charity, the board added.

"We're all in — 100% — every minute of every match," Boehly said in the statement. "Our vision as owners is clear: we want to make the fans proud."

The UK government last week approved the sale of Chelsea FC to the group led by Boehly, saying that Abramovich wouldn't benefit from the proceeds and that the money would be used for humanitarian causes in Ukraine.

The sale was valued at £4.25 billion ($5.3 billion), the team previously reported.

UK Secretary of State Nadine Dorries tweeted on Monday that sanctioning Abramovich was "right and necessary," but it brought about "profound uncertainty" for Chelsea FC. She also said that proceeds from the sale would be "frozen" and could only be used with government approval.