The funding in Chelsea Women by Reddit co-founder and husband of tennis nice Serena Williams will probably be “game-changing,” supervisor Sonia Bompastor mentioned on Thursday.
The American businessman purchased a 10% stake within the ladies’s group, believed to be round £20 million (($26.52m), in step with the membership’s £200m valuation, which was the value positioned on the membership when Chelsea FC Holdings offered the group to its sister firm in April.
Ohanian, 42, has invested in ladies’s soccer beforehand when he turned the biggest shareholder in NWSL facet Angel City FC in 2024.
“I believe it is a actually thrilling second for the membership, for the ladies’s group, for the ladies’s English sport. To have this chance to have Alexis put money into the ladies’s group is nice. I am actually pleased with this information and actually enthusiastic about this,” Bompastor informed a information convention on Thursday forward of this weekend’s FA Cup ultimate at Wembley towards Manchester United.
When requested why she believes Ohanian selected Chelsea, Bompastor mentioned: “We’re one of the best. Easy!
“Outcomes assist lots. When you’ve gotten a profitable group but in addition the values. Once I informed you after I joined this membership I felt at first I used to be in the precise place by way of feeling the assist from the ownerships and the folks working round this ladies’s group but in addition the values.”
The west London facet went undefeated within the Girls’s Tremendous League (WSL) this season to win their sixth-successive league title. Regardless of their unprecedented success, Bompastor stays anticipating extra.
“It is actually necessary for the ladies’s sport but in addition for England to have somebody to put money into a group like Chelsea. It simply exhibits we’re in a very good spot in the mean time however we nonetheless need to be a fair higher group and higher membership and we need to be the most effective groups on the planet by way of outcomes on the pitch but in addition we need to be a mannequin exterior the pitch,” she mentioned.
“I hope we will [stay ahead of the competition] as a result of we need to be the leaders, we need to be the group who exhibits to each different group how that you must carry out and the way that you must put money into the ladies’s sport.”
She mentioned she hopes the funding will assist in their pursuit of a primary Champions League trophy. European glory eluded Chelsea throughout former supervisor Emma Hayes’ 12-year tenure and regardless of profitable the competitors as a participant and a supervisor with Lyon, Bompastor was unable to achieve the ultimate this season.
Chelsea fell to an 8-2 combination drubbing by Barcelona within the semifinal, their third consecutive exit at this stage to the Spanish giants.
“Hopefully subsequent 12 months we will probably be in a fair higher place. Having this thrilling information and nice funding within the ladies’s group will assist for positive,” she mentioned.
Chelsea spent over £1.5m throughout the January switch window. They signed Naomi Girma, the primary $1m participant within the ladies’s sport, and England worldwide Keira Walsh. In the course of the 2024 January switch window, additionally they broke the then world report price to signal Colombian striker Mayra Ramírez.
However there will probably be extra competitors within the Girls’s Tremendous League (WSL) subsequent season with Lyon and Washington Spirit proprietor Michele Kang’s English group, London City Lionesses, getting into the highest flight. Kang spent closely to earn promotion and it’s understood she is going to proceed to speculate to solidify their place within the WSL.
“Hopefully [Ohanian’s investement] will carry another folks to put money into ladies’s groups on this league,” Bompastor mentioned. “I believe that is the instance we have to set for ourselves but in addition to point out to the opposite groups what they should do. That is actually good for us to be in that place, I need us to remain in that place for a very long time.”
Whereas some have criticised Chelsea’s spending, the supervisor believes that the elevated funding, permitting for heightened spending is “actually optimistic” for the sport. She added that it exhibits English soccer is in a “actually good place” and raises the profile of English soccer increased.
The 44-year-old supervisor admitted she hopes that she is going to meet Ohanian and Williams at Sunday’s cup ultimate after a “actually optimistic end result.”
“The sport [FA Cup final] is one thing we need to keep targeted on, that is actually necessary. However that is most likely an additional motivation going into the sport on Sunday as a result of we need to go into the sport displaying satisfaction however with this thrilling information.
“You need to be answerable for the end result you get on Sunday and present our greatest model.”