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Weeks After Controversial $3,000,000,000 PGA – LIV Merger, PIF Spark Off Controversy With Chelsea & Saudi Transfer Firesale Which Could Leave F1 Mogul Disappointed

Published 06/22/2023, 2:49 PM EDT

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In today’s day and age, the world of sports is being dominated by cash. Revenue and purchasing power has become the name of the game. With Formula 1 already at an evaluation of a billion dollars, other popular sports, like soccer are following suit. And there is a common denominator; the Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund (PIF). Even in F1, the Saudis have a major influence. However, they’ve now shifted their focus to soccer and the PGA tour. And this is concerning for an ex-F1 team owner.

The Saudi PIF has also made a $3,000,000,000 worth move to get rivals PGA and LIV together in the world of Golf. Jordan team boss, Eddie Jordan’s words hold a lot of weight in hindsight as players like N’Golo Kante and Édouard Mendy among others have decided to ditch Chelsea and the Premier League for the Saudi Professional League.

F1 boss Eddie Jordan is disappointed in today’s Chelsea

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What does Chelsea players choosing Saudi Arabia over England have to do with the PIF? Well, the PIF currently owns the teams these players are leaving for with some huge numbers involved in terms of transfer fees and salaries! To add to this, the Saudi PIF has billions of pounds of assets managed by Clearlake Capital, which is owned by Chelsea owner, Todd Boehly as per Sportsmail.

On a recent episode of the Formula for Success podcast with David Coulthard, Jordan admitted, “I am a Chelsea fan, and it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to see where they are at the moment.” He then went on to explain his stance while reminiscing about the good old days.

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“I am disappointed and I am sad because Frank Lampard is one of the greatest men and a real genuine friend and a wonderful footballer himself. Along with John Terry and Didier Drogba; those were magical times.” For Jordan the new owners have not instilled any faith in him.

“Now, you roll it of to this time. [Roman] Abramovich…was a genius, and what he brought to Chelsea was something magic. The new owners at the moment don’t seem to be in the same league. Getting rid of [Thomas] Tuchel was a mistake.” However, the Irishman remains optimistic with the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino.

There’s deep concern in Jordan’s thoughts. That being said, there’s cause for concern for F1, too owing to the special relationship it shares with Chelsea.

The time when Chelsea headlined Formula 1

You wouldn’t think that a soccer club in England would have anything to do with Formula 1, full-time. However, back in 2012, more than a decade earlier, the West-London club signed an extensive sponsorship deal with Sauber.

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Back in the day, Sky Sports had reported, “Sauber have entered into a commercial partnership with Chelsea FC, with the relationship to see both the Formula 1 and football teams display the other’s logo.”

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Would you like to see more collaborations between F1 and soccer in the future?

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Written by:

Anirban Aly Mandal

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Anirban Aly Mandal is a senior F1 writer at EssentiallySports, with over 500 articles published on the platform. Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 while playing on his computer, and he has since then dived deep into the world of motorsports. Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports.
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Edited by:

Aishwary Gaonkar