Little by little, Chelsea is detaching itself from the vestiges of the era of Roman Abramovich. This Wednesday, the English club made official what was an open secret: the departure of Marina Granovskayawho was the right hand of the Russian businessman during his stay in London, becoming considered the most powerful woman in world football.
“We thank Marina for her many years of excellent service to the club and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours,” said Todd Boehly, the new owner and co-controller of the institution, appointed chairman of the board of directors and, in addition, the interim sporting director until a replacement takes over, who can take on that role full time.
Granovskaia was the right hand of Roman Abramovich, the Russian tycoon who had to get rid of the property of the London club as a result of the war in Ukraine, due to the millionaire’s closeness to Vladimir Putin and the sanctions of the British government. He is a reserved person, who does not have social networks nor is he assiduous in giving interviews.
He was born in Russia and has dual nationality: Russian and Canadian. She studied at the Moscow State University Faculty of Foreign Languages and graduated in 1997. In the same year she began her career at the Sibneft oil company, which was owned by Abramovich. That is the beginning of the link between the two, the one that stretched towards football when the tycoon acquired Chelsea in 2003. For more than 20 years she was a collaborator of the millionaire, being his main advisor in various areas.
In 2003 she moved from Moscow to London and since 2010 she has acted as the owner’s representative at the club and in support of the board of directors, which she joined in June 2012. In her role as director, her main task was the transfers and Chelsea’s contractual agreements. She was called the “Iron Lady”, considering that everything that happened at Stamford Bridge should have her approval.
In addition to the numerous signings that the club made under his management (Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Edouard Mendy, the return of José Mourinho, among others), Another triumph attributed to him was the contract between Chelsea and Nike, in 2017, breaking all Premier League records: 60 million pounds per year for 15 years, until 2032. In 2021, Marina Granovskaia won the award for ‘Best Director’ of a European club at the Golden Boys.
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