Marina Granovskaia is the iron lady of Chelsea

Manos Staramopoulos • 1 de febrero de 2022

Marina Granovskaia is the CEO of Chelsea and the "right hand" of the Russian multimillionaire owner of the English team, Roman Abramovich. A wonderful women

Marina Granovskaia Director of Chelsea FC

They say that behind a great man hides an equally great woman. And that goes to Marina Granovskaia, the CEO of Chelsea and the "right hand" of the Russian multimillionaire owner of the English team, Roman Abramovich.


The summer of 2021 was undoubtedly perhaps the best in the career of the beautiful Marina Granovskaia. At first she made every effort to get Borussia Dortmund the tall Norwegian international forward Erling Haaland, but as the negotiations did not end well, she then quickly turned her attention to Inter Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku, and in a very short time closed the deal. securing an agreement within days.


The Italian champion, Inter, asked for 120 million euros, but Granovskaia managed to lower its price to 115 million euros and the international forward to dress in "blue", having in fact great success in his appearances so far.


But it was not just the smart shopping that the "iron lady" of Chelsea has made so far. It is also the sales that have brought in a lot of revenue to its "employer" Abramovich. He sold the talent of the international forward, Tammy Abraham, to Roma in the summer with 40 million euros.


The 21-year-old defender, Mark Guehi at Crystal Palace with 18 million euros. The central defender, Fikanio Tomori with 40 million euros in Milan. In fact, Marina has put a repurchase clause in all three of the above, if the management of the English team deems that they can strengthen it.


The work she has been doing at Chelsea for more than 10 years is fascinating and proves exactly why Abramovich trusts her so much.


Granovskaia studied at the Foreign Languages Faculty of Moscow State University  and graduated in 1997. She started working as Roman Abramovich's PA  at Sibneft  in 1997 In 2003, she moved to London, when Abramovich bought Chelsea. She has also worked for Millhouse Capital, another company owned by Abramovich.


She later became involved in transfers and contractual dealings for Chelsea, becoming the representative of the owner at the club in 2010, then joining the Chelsea board in June 2013. In 2014, she was promoted to chief executive of the club. The Times stated that the promotion made the "most powerful woman in football."



Her task of managing transfers sometimes put her at odds with managers who had their own ideas of whom to sell or buy during the transfer window. She has also been responsible for brokering the team's sponsorship deal with Nike that will fund £60m per year to the club until 2032.


She has been described as 'The Iron Lady' and she is considered one of the best club directors in world football. In 2018, Forbes  ranked her Number 5 in their "Most Powerful Women in International Sports" list.


While Chelsea started growing their presence on the pitch, with back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, Granovskaia started the long-term planning of the club.


She was a fundamental part of establishing a working relationship with Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, who often provide a temporary home for loaned young Blues stars who develop their game in the Eredivisie, such as Mason Mount and Armando Broja . She also masterminded the building of Chelsea's Cobham training facility.


In 2010, she was appointed as Abramovich's representative, before being added to the board of directors in 2013, becoming influential in transfer dealings. One year later, she was promoted to the role of chief executive at the club following the departure of Ron Gourlay. She now has the final say on transfers, and negotiates the prices of sales and signings.


In short, a lot. Everything business and transfer related goes through her, and she has the full trust of Abramovich.


   Post recientes


Patrik Schick
Por Juan Carlos QB 19 de febrero de 2026
Patrik Schick, encarriló la eliminatoria de 1/16 avos para el Bayer Leverkusen en El Pireo con dos goles en los que mostró su enorme poder anotador sobre Olympiacos
 Bodo Glim
Por Discoveryfootball.com 18 de febrero de 2026
El Inter se congela en Noruega ante un Bodo Glim, que le ganó con justicia como ya habia hecho ante el Manchester City y Atlético Madrid. Derrota 3-1 justa
Por Juan Carlos QB 18 de febrero de 2026
El crack brasileño no se cansa de estar en el centro de la polémica, siempre con el tema del racismo de fondo, una cuestión por supuesto, rechazable desde todo punto de vista. Pero, porqué no ayudar a siquiera evitarlo?
Galatasaray
Por Manos Staramopoulos 18 de febrero de 2026
Galatasaray has taken a decisive step towards reaching the Champions League round of 16, after beating a Juventus side that lost their composure in the second half.
Vinicius
Por Juan Carlos QB 18 de febrero de 2026
Vinicius fue el gran protagonista del duelo entre el Benfica y el Real Madrid en Da Luz. Fue protagonista para lo mejor y para lo peor otra vez, como siempre.
Christian Karembeu
Por Manos Staramopoulos 16 de febrero de 2026
Christian Karembeu now Olympiacos ambassador spoke with Manos Staramopoulos of Discoveryfootball.com in Belgium about various international football topics.
 Atlético
Por Juan Carlos QB 12 de febrero de 2026
El Barcelona estuvo desastroso en defensa, concediendo espacios y cediendo ante la presión y el empuje de un Atlético más enérgico y entregado. Victoria solvente
Real Sociedad
Por Discoveryfootball.com 11 de febrero de 2026
Victoria de la Real Sociedad que coloca un pie en la final de la Copa, venciendo en el derbi "Vasco" a un Athletic que sigue en crisis. Sin juego y sin recursos.
 Harry Kane
Por Manos Staramopoulos 11 de febrero de 2026
Danny Welbeck's failure to join Tottenham facilitated the signing of Harry Kane for Spurs and the rest is history. Harry Kane is the club`s all time top scorers