London (AFP) – Sonia Bompastor praised Chelsea’s new celebrity backers after multi-millionaire businessman Alexis Ohanian and his wife, tennis great Serena Williams, flew over for their FA Cup final triumph on Sunday. The Blues’ 3-0 win over Manchester United saw French coach Bompastor complete a domestic treble in her first season in charge, with the west London side the first team to go through a 22-game Women’s Super League season unbeaten as well as winning the League Cup.
Victory at Wembley also came just days after Reddit founder Ohanian announced he had bought a stake in the Chelsea women’s team, reported to be a 10 percent share worth an estimated £20 million ($27 million). Bompastor, meanwhile, was delighted by the presence of both 23-time Grand Slam singles winner Williams and Ohanian. “They were here today to show their support,” said Bompastor. “You can feel from the beginning they have the right mentality coming into Chelsea,” she added. “I think it was the best way to welcome them with this game, this final, and this result.”
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Sandy Baltimore scored two of Chelsea’s goals, either side of providing the free-kick from which Catarina Macario headed in to make it 2-0 in front of a Wembley crowd of over 74,000. United were unable to repeat their 2024 FA Cup final win, with manager Marc Skinner having to field questions after the full-time whistle regarding the absence of co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
– ‘Queens of global soccer’ – Chelsea have still to win the Women’s Champions League, losing 8-2 on aggregate to Barcelona in this season’s semi-finals. But Ohanian, speaking to the BBC during the half-time interval, said of Chelsea: “These are the queens of global soccer and they’ve got the trophy case to prove it. I feel so humbled. This is a very special club.” Ohanian added he wanted Chelsea to be “the best team in the world and at the forefront of women’s sport”.
“This will be a billion-dollar franchise one day and I hope my dollars, my pounds, can go towards that and especially back home in America, this is going to be America’s team,” said Ohanian, previously an investor in US women’s football club Angel City FC and a backer of women’s athletics. Chelsea co-owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly were also at Wembley on Sunday, with Bompastor saying: “It’s really enjoyable for us to see all the people from the ownership were here today, but even more important to feel they were really behind the team.”
Skinner pointed out that United chief executive Omar Berrada, technical director Jason Wilcox and members of the US-based Glazer family that own the club were at the final. But he was at a loss to explain why Ratcliffe — whose commitment to the club’s women’s team has been criticised — was absent. “I understand the angle, I don’t know the reason Jim wasn’t here,” said Skinner. “But as long as the club continues to invest in the right way that we need to close that gap, then they are still showing the support in that way, and I really think that’s a pertinent point.”
© 2024 AFP
