Chelsea transfer ban suspended

06 November 2009 12:10

The Court of Arbitration for Sport have suspended the FIFA-imposed ban on Chelsea transfers, until a verdict is reached in relation to their signing of Gael Kakuta.

As part of their appeal against the punishment, Chelsea asked for the ban to be 'stayed' until a decision was made, and will now be freed to trade in the January transfer window.

The Premier League club were banned from entering the transfer market for two windows, after they were found guilty of colluding with Kakuta to break his contract with Ligue 1 side Lens.

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A statement from CAS on Friday read: "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has granted the request for a stay filed by Chelsea Football Club Ltd and Mr Gael Kakuta in relation to the decision taken by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber on 27 August 2009.

"The FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed, inter alia, a restriction of four months' ineligibility on Mr Gael Kakuta, and Chelsea Football Club Ltd was banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the next two complete, consecutive registration periods. Such sanctions are now stayed until the CAS renders its final decision in this matter."

An official statement from Chelsea in relation to the initial punishment read: "Chelsea will mount the strongest appeal possible following the decision of FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber over Gael Kakuta.

"The sanctions are without precedent to this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offence and the financial penalty imposed.

"We cannot comment further until we receive the full written rationale for this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."

- Football.co.uk staff

Source: DSG