Vitesse Arnhem have been relegated from the Eredivisie after the Netherlands Football Association deducted them 18 points.
The Dutch football’s governing body revealed that it has imposed a record points deduction on Vitesse after it failed to meet the requirements of its licensing regulations.
The points deduction has seen the Dutch club plummet to -1, officially sealing their relegation from the Eredivisie, the first time they have dropped divisions in 35 years.
Relegation already looked almost certain with the club bottom of the league with four games to go amid a financial crisis.
Chelsea and Vitesse had a close working relationship during Abramovich’s time in charge at Stamford Bridge.
On many occasions, players from the Blues would be loaned to the Dutch outfit to help them develop or to be put in the shop window.
Such a case went ahead when academy graduate Mason Mount was looking to break into the first team, joining Vitesse on loan during the 2017/18 season.
It turned out to be the making of Mount, who had a fine campaign where he scored 14 times in 39 appearances, earning the club’s Player of the Year award and appearing in the Eredivisie Team of the Year.
The England international then impressed at Derby County the following year under Chelsea legend Frank Lampard before the two reunited at Stamford Bridge ahead of the 2019/20 season.
But the club that helped him become the player he is today has fallen into a state of crisis while the KNVB insisted that the massive penalty was down to ‘exceptional seriousness and extent’ of violations of the Dutch football licensing system.
It was further noted that Vitesse provided ‘incorrect information’ as well as withholding information while the licensing committee concluded that there were ‘indications’ that Abramovich had either controlled or still had control of Vitesse.
Vitesse can appeal the decision but revealed that they were not going to and were instead going to focus on retaining their football license.
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in March 2022, Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government thereby had his assets frozen and was forced to sell Chelsea.
The Blues are also under investigation by the Premier League for events that took place under Abramovich’s rule at the club.
In January, Premier League CEO Richard Masters said:
“On Chelsea, as you know the new owners of Chelsea came forward to UEFA, the FA and Premier League about information of the previous ownership and we are still investigating that.”
“We won’t announce the outcome of that until we have completed the investigations.”
