To make Chelsea break even under the new rules of European football, club owner Roman Abramovich had to spend almost £80 million last year, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday .

As the publication notes, the British company Fordstam Limited - the parent structure of the group, which includes the London football club Chelsea - showed a loss of £78.9 (about €91.6 million) for the 2012 financial year, according to its reporting data. For the same period last year, the company's losses amounted to £76.8 million.

According to Deloitte partner Sharif Galeev, Fordstam is financed using funds lent to it, which it redirects to the group's structures. It is quite possible that these funds are reflected in the football club as authorized capital, he said.

At the end of the 2012 financial year, Fordstam Limited's financial debt amounted to £894.5 million compared to £815.5 million a year earlier. As the publication notes, this figure reflects the total investment made by Abramovich in the club.

As a result, the businessman's support allowed Chelsea to declare itself break-even. Last November, the club reported that it had made a net profit of €1.4 million for the financial year. The club also reported that it had no debt. Thus, the club went into profit for the first time since Abramovich gained control over it.

The exit to profit was necessary for Chelsea to comply with new UEFA financial rules. At the end of last year, a provision in the Fair Play statute came into force, according to which clubs must not spend more than they earn. In particular, the new rules allow clubs to make a loss of no more than €5 million per year, and the team owner's investment in the club should be limited to €45 million.

Forbes previously conducted its own investigation into Chelsea's business , starting with Abramovich's acquisition of the club in 2003. The investigation revealed that the group's debt exceeds £1 billion, and Abramovich's costs for purchasing and supporting the football club over 8 years amount to about £820 million.

It cost Abramovich £80m a year to break even at Chelsea