LAST UPDATE | 8 May 2019
CHELSEA INTEND TO appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the ban on their signing players over the next two transfer windows remained largely in place following a Fifa ruling on Wednesday.
In February, the Blues were banned from signing players for their men’s teams for the next two transfer windows after being found guilty by Fifa’s disciplinary committee of breaching regulations relating to the recruitment of minors.
Chelsea denied any wrongdoing and appealed.
On Wednesday, the governing body of world soccer announced that its appeal committee had “decided to partially uphold the appeal”.
The committee lifted part of the ban, but only for players under 16 who are not “international transfers and first registrations of foreign minor players”.
That means Chelsea will still not be able to sign male players over the age of 16 when the summer transfer window opens. The appeal committee also confirmed the fine of €526,000.
Chelsea, however, have since released a statement in which the club said it would take its appeal to CAS with a view to having the ban overturned.
“Chelsea FC has today received the decision of the Fifa Appeal Committee,” the statement read. “The club notes that the Fifa Appeal Committee has decided to partially uphold the appeal lodged by Chelsea FC against the decision of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee.
“However, the club is very disappointed that the transfer ban of two consecutive registration periods was not overturned.
“Chelsea FC categorically refutes the findings of the FIFA Appeal Committee. It acted in accordance with the relevant regulations and will appeal the decision to CAS.”
Blues boss Maurizio Sarri was asked about Fifa’s ruling at a press conference ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg with Eintracht Frankfurt, but said he was yet to discuss transfer plans for the 2019/20 season with the club:
“Not at the moment. We spoke a month ago about the pre-season and the problem of the next pre-season. But we didn’t speak about the market.
Also at the moment we don’t know if we can sign or not. I like to play with young players, for me it is not a big problem [if the ban stands].
“Every month I get a report about the players on loan. We have 45 or 46 players on loan. Of course we need to consider who is ready but at the moment I want to be focused on the semi-final, of course.
“Two, three players are interesting of course. But we need to consider the level.
I don’t believe when you buy 10 players [it is helpful]. I think that we have to buy one or two players. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to include them immediately. I think we are a very good team, so we need only one or two players, no more.
Christian Pulisic will join Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, the American’s transfer completed prior to Fifa’s original ruling.
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