Oligarch funded Everton football club while barred from UK
Everton Football Club was funded by the oligarch Alisher Usmanov while he was barred from entering the UK, the Guardian can reveal.
The tycoon was told in a letter from the Home Office in September 2021 that his presence in the UK was “not deemed conducive to the public good”.
That ban, which the letter said was “personally directed” by the then home secretary, Priti Patel, came six months before the businessman was sanctioned in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The existence of his travel ban was known by Everton’s board – but not publicly until now – and raises further questions about whether English football’s due diligence processes are fit for purpose.
At the time of the letter his 26-year-old nephew, Sarvar Ismailov, was serving on the Everton board and Usmanov’s companies had active contracts that were injecting tens of millions into the Merseyside club via a series of sponsorship agreements.
These included naming rights deals for the club’s training ground, initially signed in January 2017, plus another for Everton’s planned new stadium, announced in January 2020, as well as a sponsorship of Everton women’s team.
The exclusion document, which has been seen by the Guardian, reveals for the first time how Usmanov was considered to be “undesirable” by the UK government six months before his alleged links to Vladimir Putin’s regime led to him being placed on sanctions lists by the UK, the EU and the US.
Non-conducive to the public good means that “it is undesirable to admit the person to the UK, based on their character, conduct, or associations because they pose a threat to UK society”, according to published Home Office guidance. The Home Office letter gave no further detail behind the move.
After being barred
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