Serena, Hamilton join bid to buy Chelsea

Sir Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams are among the investors backing Sir Martin Broughton’s bid to buy Chelsea.

The Broughton consortium is one of three groups in the running to purchase the Premier League club for £2.5bn.

As first reported by Sky, seven-time Formula 1 champion Hamilton – an Arsenal fan – and 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion Williams have pledged investment into the bid.

World Athletics president and Chelsea fan Lord Coe is also behind the bid.

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The Blues are operating under a special licence from the UK government after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned.

Abramovich put the club up for sale before he was sanctioned for his alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine.

BBC Sport understands that Hamilton and Williams have been involved with the Broughton consortium’s bid from the start.

They would have no say on footballing decisions.

Other investors in the Broughton-led bid include the Rogers family, who are based in Canada and own media and telecoms company Rogers Communications, chair of the Houston 2026 World Cup bid committee John Arnold, and the Tsai family from Taiwan, which owns two baseball teams.

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The Broughton bid is already backed by Crystal Palace co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, with additional funds from investment banker Michael Klein and Lord Coe.

The group faces competition to buy Chelsea from consortiums led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and co-owner of the Boston Celtics Stephen Pagliuca.