If you "ever wanted two clubs who embody the new faces of 21st century football," Chelsea and A-League side Sydney FC -- the "aspiring kings of Europe and Asia -- might well be it," according to Sebastian Hassett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The pair are "unlikely poster boys for the game's modern evolution." And they "both have something fundamentally in common: their respective rises to the top of the English establishment and Australia's football experiment has been fuelled by, ironically, a half-way point between London and Sydney." The "vast oil fields of Siberia, closed behind the Iron Curtain for much of the past century, provide the economic grounding for the two clubs' recent success and future ambition." Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich "made his fortune" trading Russia's newly privatized oil commodities, while Sydney FC Owner David Traktovenko "accumulated his fortune in Russia's banking sector -- itself driven by the same, unimaginably vast natural resources beneath the nation's soil." Football "evolved from a regional working man's pastime to metropolitan
entertainment for the rich and very rich alike." Abramovich's arrival at
Stamford Bridge, this month 12 years ago, "has changed the entire
sport irreversibly." So "profoundly successful have their football projects been -- albeit at
significant financial cost -- that both will be delighted to see their
respective clubs playing in front of nearly 84,000 on Tuesday night" (SMH, 6/1).
