Russian oil billionaire Roman Arkadievich Abramovich was born in October 24, 1966 in Saratov, Russia. He is referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs.

In March 2006 he was listed by Forbes Magazine as the richest Russian, the second richest person in Britain and the eleventh richest person in the world, with an estimated fortune of $18.2 billion.

Everyone above him in the list was at least ten years older. Abramovich is most famous outside of Russia as the owner of Chealsea F.C., an English Premiership football club. Despite his high profile around the world, Abramovich makes virtually no public statements about his activities.

The man behind the biggest takeover in British football history, Abramovich grew up many miles away from the glamour of West London. An orphan by the age of four, he was raised by Jewish relatives in the harsh environs of the Arctic Circle.

He began his business career selling plastic ducks from a grim Moscow apartment but, within a few years, Abramovich's vast wealth spread from oil conglomerates to pig farms, and secured his place within then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle. However, even today, his task force of bodyguards and armoured Mercedes testify to the high-risk nature of capitalism in post-Soviet Russia.

When Putin came to power, Abramovich entered politics himself, becoming the governor of a remote, but resource-rich, Siberian region. After winning the election by 92% of the vote, he pumped investment into the region, building houses and sending thousands of schoolchildren on holiday.

Some observers considered this political platform a dry run for the mayorship of Moscow, but Abramovich claimed his actions were "just to see whether I like it".

In June 2003 he became the owner of the companies that control Chelsea Football Club in the UK. As soon as Abramovich took control, he assumed the team's 80 million pounds debt burden and poured as much as at GBP 440 million into the club.

In March 2004, his company, Sibneft, agreed to a three-year sponsorship deal worth $58 million with the Russian team CSKA Moscow. Despite the company explaining that the decision was made at management level, some viewed the deal as an attempt by Abramovich to counter accusations of being unpatriotic which were made at the time of the Chelsea purchase.

He was named most influential person in Russian football in the Russian magazine Pro Sport at the end of June 2004. In May 2005, CSKA won the UEFA Cup, becoming the first Russian club ever to win a major European football competition.

Abramovich also played a large role in bringing Guus Hiddink to Russia to coach the Russian national football team. Piet de Visser, a former head scout of Hiddink's club PSV Eindhoven, is now a personal assistant to Abramovich. He recommended Hiddink to the Chelsea owner.