Serena Williams and Lewis Hamilton purchase Chelsea from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich

Serena Williams and Lewis Hamilton have joined the United Kingdom's bid to purchase Chelsea from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

According to Sky News on Thursday, Serena Williams and Sir Lewis Hamilton have reportedly backed a bid to buy Chelsea Football Club from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, as the global bidding war for ownership of one of soccer's most famous clubs heats up.

According to Sky News, Williams and Hamilton, two of the world's most famous and decorated athletes, have news backed a takeover bid for the club led by former British Airways and Liverpool FC chairman Sir Martin Broughton.

According to the report, if Broughton's bid is successful, seven-time Formula One world champion Hamilton and 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams will invest around £10 million ($13.1 million).

Both stars have experience as investors, building global sports brands, and promoting equality in their respective sports, with Sky News reporting that Hamilton is "likely to play a formal role in Chelsea's future efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion if the bid is successful."

Other investors in Broughton's coalition include brewing billionaire Alejandro Santo Domingo, John Arnold, the chair of Houston's 2026 FIFA World Cup bid, Taiwan's Tsai family (which owns the Taipei Fubon Braves and Fubon Guardians baseball teams), and Canada's Rogers family (which owns the media and telecoms company Rogers Communications).

After nearly two decades under Abramovich, Broughton's consortium is one of three competing to buy the famous club. The coalition is the only one led by Britons, with the other two bids supported by well-known American investors Todd Boehly, who owns a stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Steve Pagliuca, who owns a stake in the Boston Celtics.

The club is expected to sell for more than £2.5 billion ($3.27 billion), though the sale and current management of the club have been complicated by the British government's sanctions imposed on Abramovich for his reported ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin