Chelsea Win Transfer Ban Appeal At CAS
Chelsea have won their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport(CAS) to have a two-window transfer ban imposed by the Federation of International Football Association(FIFA) overturned.
The Blues are now free to add to their squad in the upcoming January transfer window.
The London-based club were handed the ban by FIFA in February this year for breaches in the acquisition of under-aged international players.
They were also fined £460,000 by the football governing body.
But following the club’s appeal to CAS, it has been found that FIFA’s punishment to Chelsea was harsh and that the club had committed only one third of the violations they were found guilty of.
CAS has halved Chelsea’s transfer ban, which has already been served considering the club did not sign any players in the summer transfer window while their £460,000 fine has been reduced to £230,000.
The only additions to the Chelsea squad this summer were Christian Pulisic, whose transfer from Borussia Dortmund was struck in January and Mateo Kovacic, whose loan deal from Real Madrid was turned permanent.
Chelsea also lost the services of the talismanic Eden Hazard to Real Madrid, meaning new manager Frank Lampard has had to rely on the club’s youth players like top scorer Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount and Reece James to augment his squad.
Nevertheless, Chelsea find themselves in fourth place in the league and a win against Lille on Tuesday will secure their place in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
