BY MICHAEL CAGE · MAY 30, 2021

Roman Abramovich changed the landscape of football in March 2003 with the purchase of English Premier League club Chelsea.

Little was known about the Russian billionaire at the time, but the Blues immediately started implementing a plan on becoming a worldwide brand and a successful football club.

After finishing second in the Premier League under Claudio Ranieiri, in came Jose Mourinho the following summer. The Portuguese manager had just shocked the world by winning the UEFA Champions League with FC Porto.

Numerous big money signings came that summer too, including Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Petr Cech and Ricardo Carvalho. Claude Makelele, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Hernan Crespo and Juan Sebastian Veron had all arrived the previous summer.

The Premier League title followed that season and the following. To date, Chelsea have now been champions of England on six occasions. They also became the first and only London club to win the Champions League, defeating Bayern Munich in their own backyard in 2012. The following year they won the Europa League, and again in 2019.

Today, Chelsea are one of the biggest football clubs in the world, and Mr Abramovich continues to spend his money. They spent over £200 million in the transfer window last summer – more than any other side that qualified for this season’s Champions League.

Prior to that, the West London club’s only English top flight title had come all the way back in 1955. Though they had had more success in cup competition – three FA Cup successes and two UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups.

The Blues are into the semi-finals of this season’s Champions League, although are on the outside looking in on the Premier League top four, one point behind West Ham United. The dismissal of Frank Lampard at the end of January proved to be positive Chelsea news for their fans, as Thomas Tuchel has done a great job to date.

Suggested Site: Chelsea News

As well as being in the Champions League semi-finals versus Real Madrid later this month, they will also face Leicester City in next month’s FA Cup final.

Historically, Arsenal are London’s biggest club. Their 13 English league titles is only bettered by Manchester United (20) and Liverpool (19). They have not been as successful as the Blues on the European front though, with just the 1994 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. They have lost each of the three European trophies at least once each since.

The Gunners are record winners of the FA Cup, with 14 successes.

Tottenham Hotspur have started to make some noise in North London in recent years, qualifying for the Champions League for four of the past five seasons. However, they have been trophy shy. Whilst they did lift the EFL Cup in 2000 and 1999, their last significant trophy was the 1991 FA Cup.

Spurs was the winners of the inaugural Europa League back in 1972 when they beat fellow English side Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1972. They won the trophy again in 1984. Prior to that, they also won the 1963 Cup Winners’ Cup.

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Not many cities across the world can boast as many professional football clubs as London. There are currently six in the Premier League too. One of those is West Ham, who are exceeding everyone’s pre-season expectations by sitting in fourth place with six games to go.

The club has been able to attract some big-name stars in recent seasons, including Dimitri Payet, Felipe Anderson, and Pablo Fornals. Keeping hold of Declan Rice, for the time being, has also been a huge coup for David Moyes’ side.

Should the Hammers finish in the top four and qualify for next season’s Champions League fans will be keeping an eye on West Ham news for some further big-name signings to bring to the London stadium.

Suggested Site: West Ham News

With the Premier League being the richest league in the world and London having a number of teams competing in it, without doubt the English capital is the richest city in the world.

Spain’s two biggest clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona are in different cities, and whilst Italian rivals AC Milan and Internazionale have attracted wealthy investors in recent seasons they simply cannot compete with the money being pumped into the aforementioned sides.

Michael Cage

Michael is a digital advertising and marketing expert.

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