Chelsea transfer ban: Club free to sign players in January after successful appeal

The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling confirmed the club’s transfer embargo has been halved

(Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Chelsea are free to make signings in January after their two-window transfer ban was halved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an announcement confirmed today.

Chelsea were initially sanctioned by Fifa in February after breaching article 19 of its regulations on the status and transfer of players, which concerns the protection of minors. The club were also found to have breached article 18, concerning third-party influence.

The Blues lodged an appeal in April before documents released by Fifa in October revealed its appeals committee found that the club had breached regulations on 150 occasions.

However, Cas’ verdict today reduced the initial ban to the one window already served by the club in January, meaning Frank Lampard is now free to invest in his squad in January.

A statement released by Cas read: “The Fifa Appeal Committee decision dated 11 April 2019, in which CFC was declared liable for violations of the Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players [RSTP] and banned from registering new players, nationally and internationally, for two entire and consecutive registration periods, fined CHF 600,000 [£462,000] reprimanded and warned on its future conduct, has been modified.​ The following sanctions have now been imposed by the CAS:

“CFC is banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for one entire registration period, which the club already served during the 2019 summer registration period

“CFC is ordered to pay a fine to Fifa of the amount of CHF 300,000 [£231,000].

“The warning and the reprimand are confirmed.

“The Sole Arbitrator found that CFC did violate Articles 19.1 [related to the international transfer of minors] and 19.3 [related to the first registration of minors] of the RSTP, but for a significantly smaller number of players [about 1/3 of the violations found by Fifa]. In addition, the violations of other RSTP rules were found to be less serious than those attributed to Chelsea FC by Fifa. Accordingly, the Sole Arbitrator reduced the sanction to one single transfer ban [which Chelsea FC already served during the 2019 summer registration period], and halved the monetary sanction.

“In view of the upcoming transfer window, the Sole Arbitrator issued his decision without the grounds. The reasoned award is being prepared and is expected to be notified to the parties in early 2020.”