Serena Williams’ husband buys stake at Chelsea — here’s why

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has revealed why he decided to buy a 10 per cent stake in Chelsea Women, explaining his admiration for the growth of the women’s game.

Speaking on the Front Office Sports podcast, Ohanian joked that American fans only associate footballing excellence with the women’s team, not the men’s — offering a light-hearted apology to Christian Pulisic.He said: “If you ask the average American sports fan, ‘Hey, think of American soccer excellence’, they’re only thinking of women’. Maybe Mia Hamm, Alex Morgan, et cetera. They can’t think of any men — sorry, Christian [Pulisic].

“The US men have never done anything impressive in soccer, and it’s no disrespect to them, it’s just that the rest of the world is really, really good, but the women are dominant. Marketing excellence, telling the story around excellence, is much easier than mediocrity.

“There’s an aura of English football that’s tremendous. Most of us here in America who want to watch the best men’s football wake up at weird hours to watch Premier League football.

“You look at a club like Chelsea that has tremendous pedigree, an amazing trophy case, and it’s a chance to invest on the ground floor of an advanced elite programme and brand.