KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Chelsea must appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if they want to buy any new players in the summer.

FIFA has banned Chelsea from registering new players for the next two transfer windows for breaching regulations in 29 cases concerning the signing of foreign youth players.

Chelsea have also been fined £460,000 and the Football Association £390,000 for allowing the registrations.

Both the club and the FA have denied wrongdoing and appealed to the world football federation which has refused an interim freeze on the ban.

Chelsea are furious.

A statement said: “Chelsea Football Club is astonished by the FIFA appeal committee’s decision not to suspend its sanction pending completion of the appeal process.

“So far as the club is aware, in all previous cases where a registration ban has been imposed by FIFA, a decision has also been made to suspend the sanction until the appeal process has been completed. In this case, Chelsea considers that it is being treated inconsistently in comparison with other European clubs.”

Football Leaks published documentation last November claiming that 19 Chelsea signings had been reviewing during a three-year investigation and that 14 of those signings were of players under the age of 18.

Spanish clubs Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have all received bans previously for breaching rules over the signing of minors which were drawn up to combat child exploitation and trafficking.

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