Chelsea takeover: Serena Williams and Sir Lewis Hamilton join Sir Martin Broughton for £2.7b ownership race

Seven-time F1 Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams have joined Sir Martin Broughton’s bid to buy Chelsea. Both sports icons have pledged a sum close to £10 million as part of the group to help the former Liverpool chairman inherit Chelsea from Roman Abramovich. 

Broughton is facing off against Ted Boehly and Steve Pagliuca to complete the takeover of the club. Boehly is currently leading the race, and Roman Abramovich is set to choose one of the new bidders to take his place next week in consultation with the Raine Group, who have been tasked with looking after the takeover procedure. 

Sir Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams join Chelsea bidder Broughton 

Hamilton is a self-proclaimed Arsenal fan, and would be expected to take up an anti-discriminatory position at Chelsea if Broughton’s bid is selected amongst the last three. It is understood that Hamilton’s bid is a personal endeavour, with no one from F1 or Mercedes involved in the bid. 

Serena Williams owns a stake in Angel City FC, the LA-based franchise who play in the National Women’s Soccer League. ‘It’s not really done in tennis, so it’s really interesting to have an opportunity to do that in a different sport. It would be a wonderful feeling to have that. You want to play better, to play harder – not only are you playing me, you’re playing me in my stadium,’ said Williams. 

It now remains to be seen whether the last-minute addition of star power to the bid will help Broughton get the edge over Pagliuca and Boehly in the final stage of the bidding war.