Chelsea have asked with “extreme reluctance” that their FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough be played behind closed doors for “matters of sporting integrity” after they were unable to sell further tickets for the fixture.
The west London club are currently operating under a special licence after Russian owner Roman Abramovich had his assets frozen following his country’s invasion of Ukraine.
That licence allows the club to run a number of football-related activities but forbids the sale of new tickets past the March 10 deadline when the sanctions were imposed.
The club released a statement saying it had lobbied the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation about amending its licence but were unable to agree a change in time.
It added that the club had now asked with “extreme reluctance” for the match to be played behind closed doors.
“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 licence which would allow a full allocation of Chelsea supporters to attend,” began the 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.
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“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 recognises 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 licence was imposed, but we believe this is the fairest way of proceeding in the current circumstances.”
The club added that it would continue its dialogue with the OFSI.
“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.”
Chelsea’s match with Newcastle on Sunday was a sell-out as all tickets were sold prior to March 10. Moving forward, only the 28,000 season ticket holders or any fans who bought tickets for matches prior to that date, will be able to attend Chelsea home matches.