the most powerful women in football !

Angela Merkel, Janet Yellen, Melinda Gates, Dilma Rousseff, Christine Lagarde ……….the toppers of most powerful women list according to Forbes. 

Back home, in 1994, she was one of five people handpicked to start the National Stock Exchange (NSE) – more than two decades later, in Apr 2013, Chitra Ramkrishna became the third person, and most importantly the first woman, to head India's largest stock exchange. 

Know the most powerful women in Soccer ??

Founded in 1905, Chelsea quickly gained a reputation for signing big name players and for attracting large crowds, but failed to win a major trophy in their first fifty years. They spent thirty of their first forty seasons in the First Division, although often found themselves finishing in mid-table or battling relegation. The closest Chelsea came to success was in the FA Cup; they were runners-up in 1915. The duck was finally broken by manager Ted Drake, who introduced a series of changes at the club and led Chelsea to the League Championship in 1955.

A further revival under managers Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli from 1996 to 2000 saw Chelsea win the FA Cup in 1997 and 2000, the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1998, and qualify for the Champions League for the first time; the club have not finished outside of the top six in the Premier League since the 1995–96season. In 2003, Chelsea were bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, ushering in the club's current phase of success. José Mourinho led them to two league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in three seasons. The club added a further FA Cup in 2009, and then their first League and FA Cup "Double" in 2010. Under the stewardship of former player Roberto Di Matteo, the club won a seventh FA Cup in 2012, before going on to win its first UEFA Champions League title. That is the history of ‘Chelsea Football Club’ based in Fulham, London. The club's home ground is the 41,837-seat Stamford Bridge stadium, where they have played since their establishment. Chelsea's regular kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks.

Recent reports in many press state that Marina Granovskaia is set to be one of the most powerful women in football.  Behind the scenes the discreet Marina Granovskaia has long been one of the most powerful women in football and now the Russian is set to become even more influential as she is tipped to take over as Chelsea's chief executive at the age of just 39, following the surprise resignation of previous CEO Ron Gourlay. She is glamorous but anyone ready to dismiss Ms Granovskaia as merely a pretty face should be aware of a core of steel behind the megawatt smile. She has been the most trusted member of the oligarch's inner circle for 17 years and is already often described as 'chief executive in everything but title', his 'eminence grise'.

Born in Russia, at school there was little indication of her future as a powerhouse in the footballing world with one former teacher describing her as a 'grey mouse'. She studied at a Moscow school which specialised in music and dance, in which there were compulsory lessons, but at the time offered pupils no sport. She graduated six months after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and studied in the Foreign Languages Faculty of Moscow State University before leaving with honours in 1997, and starting her career at Sibneft, the oil company which was then owned by Abramovich.  Since she moved from the Russian capital to London when he bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003, the billionaire is said to have grown to trust her implicitly.

Her biggest coup so far has been engineering the return to the club of Jose Mourinho, the Portuguese manager who was dubbed 'The Special One' during his first spell as Chelsea manager between 2004 and 2007. She is fluent in English and speaks several other European languages, and is said to be one of the primary architects behind Chelsea's youth scheme - by taking young talent and sending them on loan to develop.

Now there are further reports that Chelsea will not appoint a chief executive to replace Ron Gourlay, who left the club last week with immediate effect. Despite the dramatic nature of that statement Gourlay, after 10 years at Chelsea, including five as chief executive, has left on his own volition. He was not pushed, even if it might be argued he did not have the remit normally enjoyed by a chief executive. That Roman Abramovich is not planning to replace the Scot, who joined from Manchester United, is the clearest sign yet of what the football world has known for the past few years: Marina Granovskaia is the power at the club.

Chelsea now openly acknowledge it is Granovskaia who runs the football side of the business. For the past four transfer windows, at least, it is Granovskaia who has been landing the deals. It is Granovskaia who has been overseeing the contract negotiations with players such as John Terry, the signing of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa and dealing with difficult decisions such as moving Florent Malouda out of the first-team squad to train with the kids. In the statement announcing Gourlay’s departure, Chelsea stated that Granovskaia will, along with Bruce Buck, the chairman, assume “additional executive responsibilities”.

So here is the new powerwoman of football

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

29^th Oct 2014.