Chelsea sale: State of play with potential buyers and consortiums ahead of Friday's deadline for bids

With the deadline for any Chelsea bids required by Friday evening, we take a look at the latest state of play and possible consortiums who could submit their offers.

It is a unique situation for many reasons, but especially that a club like Chelsea does not become available on the open market very often, if ever. They are one of the biggest clubs in the world - the world and European champions - so there is a lot of interest.

However, they are under a variety of restrictions after the UK government and the EU sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The club cannot sell tickets to games or sell merchandise and are restricted on how much they can spend on any given game day.

There are lots of people jockeying for position with Chelsea, lots of people finalising the fine details of the consortium that they are putting together.

Here are how some of the main runners and riders are shaping up ahead of Friday's deadline.

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The Ricketts family

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The American family who own the Chicago Cubs. Significantly, they are backed by Ken Griffin, who is a hedge fund billionaire and we've been told he is almost three times as rich as Roman Abramovich. He is also the single richest individual that we are aware of at the moment who is interested in buying Chelsea.

On Friday evening, the family released a statement confirming they had lodged a bid, saying: "The Ricketts Family, owners of the Chicago Cubs, can confirm they will be leading an investment group that will make a formal bid for Chelsea Football Club this Friday (March 18).

"As long-time operators of an iconic professional sports team, the Ricketts Family and their partners understand the importance of investing for success on the pitch, while respecting the traditions of the club, the fans and the community.

"We look forward to sharing further details of our plans in due course."

Sir Martin Broughton

There is another bid which is being fronted by Sir Martin Broughton. He is a former chairman of British Airways, a former chairman of Liverpool who was heavily involved when Liverpool was taken over by Fenway Sports Group.

He is a long-term Chelsea supporter and he has teamed up with Lord Coe, another long-term Chelsea supporter. Lord Coe said Wednesday night that Broughton is the right man to lead Chelsea into the future and also their consortium is backed by the American financier, Michael Klein.

Nick Candy

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Another bid that is very interesting is one that involves another life-long Chelsea supporter, and that is luxury property developer Nick Candy.

He is backed by Gianluca Viallli, who of course used to play for Chelsea. Vialli now has a company called Tifosy Capital. Vialli said on Wednesday he was very proud and privileged to be involved in Candy's bid and that he'd met him on several occasions in the past few weeks. He believes Candy is the right man to lead Chelsea into the future.

The Boehly-Wyss-Goldstein-Finkelstein consortium

There's also the other bid from the US, part-owner of the LA Dodgers Todd Boehly who has teamed up with Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and they are backed by Jonathan Goldstein.

Times columnist and former Conservative government adviser Daniel Finkelstein has joined the trio.

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He is a Chelsea supporter and would become a non-executive director if the bid is successful. He was made a life peer in 2013.

American investment firm Clearlake Capital have joined the same consortium, report Sky News, though the consortium's bid is now overfunded.

Bloomberg are reporting that Barbara Charone has also joined the same consortium. She is a Chelsea fan who set up the music PR company MBC PR. Madonna, Foo Fighters, Rod Stewart and Maroon 5 are some of their artists.

Aethel Partners

Aethel Partners put in a bid worth more than £2billion for Chelsea on Thursday.

It is an investment company based in Berkeley Square in London. It is willing to provide Chelsea with an immediate £50m to deal with any short-term financing the club may need.

C&P Sports Group

Sports media organisation Catalina & Partners Group announced on Friday that they are planning a bid for Chelsea, with backing from South Korea.

The organisation's headquarters are based on the same Fulham Road which Stamford Bridge stadium is based on, with just a mile separating the two bases.

"We are preparing our bid," said C&P Sports Group chief executive Catalina Kim. "There has never been investment into a top tier football club made by South Korean capital before. It is time for a change."

Will there be another unknown bidder?

Other possible bidders include Woody Johnson, the former US ambassador to the UK and owner of the New York Jets. He is very close to Donald Trump and is putting together a consortium as well.

There is also the Saudi Media Group, which is said to be interested.

All these bids have to go in by Friday, and there's still a big possibility that someone is going to emerge that we have not heard from at all because if you are the kind of person that is interested in buying Chelsea and you have billions to spend in public, you don't really need to say anything.

You do your business in private, stay under the radar, and just put a big, big bid on the table at the last minute. So there is a possibility that that is going to happen as well.

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