Chelsea May Sign New Players As FIFA Ban Is Lifted

Chelsea FC are now eligible to sign players in the 2020 January transfer window following verdict by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on Friday.

The Premier League side were given a two-window ban by FIFA in February for breaching rules on signing young players.

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CAS reduced the ban to one window, which was served during the summer.

It also reduced the fine for the London club from N218,840,400 (£460,000) to N109,420,200 (£230,000).

Chelsea was banned after 150 rule breaches involving 69 academy players over several seasons, according to the judgement published by FIFA.

CAS found that the club “did violate” rules “related to the international transfer of minors” and “to the first registration of minors” but “for a significantly smaller number of players” amounting to “about a third of the violations found by FIFA”.

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The CAS verdict added that, “In addition, the violations of other Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) rules were found to be less serious than those attributed to Chelsea by FIFA.”

FIFA recently published that Chelsea claimed many academy players were only triallists and did not play in organised matches.

Chelsea lodged an appeal to CAS against the FIFA punishment, which was also prompted by an investigation into the Premier League club’s signing of foreign under-18 players.

FIFA bans the transfer of under-18s to different countries unless the moves meet strict criteria, such as the parents moving to the country for non-footballing reasons.

The rules were introduced to help protect children from exploitation and trafficking.

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