Roman Abramovich has slapped a £3bn price tag on Chelsea Football Club as the Russian tycoon prepares to end his near-two decade ownership of the winners of the Club World Cup.

Mr Abramovich’s advisers at The Raine Group were expected to issue letters to prospective bidders on Wednesday, with a deadline set for indicative bids in mid-March.

Sources close to the process said that as many as eight multibillionaires were being sounded out about their appetite to buy the club at a time when Mr Abramovich faces the possibility of being sanctioned after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian is said to have turned down an offer of £2.5bn for the club from an unidentified third party earlier this week, with bids of £3bn or more expected to be taken seriously.

Among those who have expressed an interest in buying Chelsea in the past are the Ineos tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Todd Boehly, an American businessman, although it was unclear whether either remained interested in a deal.

Several of the parties contacted by Raine are understood to be from the US, with others from Asia.

On Tuesday, Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss tycoon, claimed publicly that he and three other prospective bidders had been invited to consider offers for the club.

Mr Abramovich’s bankers are keen to complete a deal quickly and potentially as soon as May, according to one insider.

Questions remain, however, about the viability of a transaction against the current geopolitical backdrop, with Mr Abramovich – who has long-denied links to the Putin regime – reported to also be putting his London property portfolio up for sale.

The issue of Mr Abramovich’s links to the Russian state was raised by Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, amid pressure for tougher sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

Chelsea’s parent company carries roughly £1.5bn in debt arising from a loan made by Mr Abramovich, meaning its equity value is also likely to be in the region of £1.5bn.

One source said it was conceivable that the owner might seek to donate the proceeds from a sale to charitable causes, having said at the weekend that he wanted to entrust the “care and stewardship” of the club to the trustees of its charitable foundation.

That plan appeared to run into difficulty when the Charity Commission said it would scrutinise the proposal and a number of the trustees were reported to be uneasy at the idea.

However, the move to hand the club to its foundation has not been abandoned and is likely to continue to be worked on alongside the sale.

In his weekend statement, Mr Abramovich said he had “always viewed my role as a custodian of the club, whose job it is ensuring that we are as successful as we can be today, as well as build for the future”.

One person close to the club said the decision to sell was “the right thing to do [in the current circumstances]” and said Mr Abramovich was keen to ensure a clean transition to a new owner who would be an appropriate steward of Chelsea.

Mr Abramovich has owned Chelsea since 2003, and has ploughed unprecedented financing into the Stamford Bridge side in order to deliver consistent footballing success.

Under his ownership, Chelsea have won the Champions League twice, the Premier League and FA Cup five times and a significant number of other trophies.

Neither Chelsea nor a spokesman for Mr Abramovich responded to a request for comment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had his honorary black belt in taekwondo revoked by the sport’s international governing body today over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

World Taekwondo said Moscow’s actions in Ukraine went against the sport’s vision of ‘peace is more precious than triumph’ as they revoked the Russian President’s honorary award. 

Putin, who does not practise taekwondo, received the honorary black belt – an award given to those who have made a significant contribution to the sport – in 2013 by World Taekwondo Federation President Choue Chung-won.

The move comes a day after the Russian leader was suspended as honorary president of the International Judo Federation. 

As Russian troops amass outside Kyiv and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees flee into neighbouring countries, world leaders have heaped punishing economic sanctions on Putin and his closest allies, as well as Russian-linked businesses.

The sporting world has had a similar reaction: Russia was booted out of qualifying for this year’s football World Cup, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged federations to exclude athletes from Russia, as well as from its ally Belarus.

World Taekwondo, which governs international federations for the sport, was the latest to condemn Putin, said Moscow’s actions went against the sport’s vision.

‘In this regard, World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to Mr Vladimir Putin in November 2013,’ the Seoul-based body said in an official statement.

It added that official taekwondo events would not be organised in Russia or Belarus

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have met to consider appointing non-African referees for the 2022 World Cup final playoffs including that between archrivals Nigeria and Ghana.

This will be the first time this has been done.

The idea behind this is to ensure absolute fairness in the officiating of these winners-take-all playoffs. A lot is riding on these playoffs including a prize money of at least 12 Million Dollars for the five teams who will qualify from them to represent at the World Cup in Qatar in November.

Ghana will host the Super Eagles on March 25 in Cape Coast with the reverse leg in Abuja four days later.

D’Tigress rejoice

Nigeria’s D’Tigress have been drawn against France, Australia, Canada, Japan and Serbia in Group D of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup campaign.

The tournament is expected to hold in Sydney, Australia in September.

The federation said, “Following FIBA’s decision on Russian teams, the draw results features a team “To Be Determined” (TBD) team. FIBA’s Central Board will decide in due course which team from the Washington/Santo Domingo Qualifying Tournament will participate in the Women’s World Cup later this year.

“This milestone event took place on the forefront of Sydney’s spectacular Harbour and was attended by FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, who gave an opening address, as well as high-ranking officials from the Local Organizing Committee, representatives from Basketball Australia, the Hon. Alister Henskens Senior Counsel and Member of Parliament and other important guests and legends of the game.

“The draw was performed by FIBA Hall of Famer Michele Timms, joined by other Australian legends of the game, FIBA’s Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Event Ambassador Lauren Jackson and former Boomer Shane Heal.

“The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 will tip-off on September 22 at Sydney Olympic Park and the game schedule can be found here.”

Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos will kickstart their chase for a ticket to this year’s FIFA U17 World Cup finals with a second round, first leg tie against their counterparts of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa on Sunday.

The Flamingos, quarter finalists at the FIFA World Cup finals in 2010, 2012 and 2014, have been in camp for some weeks in the Federal Capital, Abuja and Head Coach Bankole Olowookere has selected 20 players who will do the battle with the characteristically –feisty Congolese on Sunday.

In the squad are two goalkeepers, seven defenders, four midfielders and seven forwards.

Nigeria have participated in every edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, bar one, since the tournament was launched in New Zealand in 2018. The only finals the Flamingos have missed remain the 2018 finals staged in Uruguay, when they were tripped at the final hurdle by Cameroon on the away-goal rule.

The return leg is scheduled for the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City on Saturday, 19^th March, with the winner over two legs to clash with the Egyptian U17 girls in the third round of the African qualifying campaign next month.

The Nigeria delegation to Kinshasa will depart the shores of Nigeria on Friday.

FLAMINGOS HEADING TO KINSHASA

Goalkeepers: Faith Omilana; Linda Jiwuaku

Defenders: Blessing Sunday; Comfort Folorunsho; Confidence Uwoha; Tumininu Adeshina; Mamusoz Edafe; Miracle Usani; Olamide Oyinlola

Midfielders: Blessing Emmanuel; Taiwo Afolabi; Chidera Okenwa; Aminat Bello

Forwards: Sofiat Bankole; Dah-Zossu Alvine; Anastasia Atume; Kafayat Bashiru; Raheemot Adebayo; Joy Igbokwe; Opeyemi Ajakaye