KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Chelsea have lost their appeal against the imposition of a two-window transfer ban by FIFA.
The appeal committee of the world football federation has acknowledged the Premier League’s complaint against the technical scope of the original verdict but has not considered that worth trimming the transfer prohibition.
This leaves the London club, who host Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt in a Europa League semi-final second leg tomorrow, with no alternative but to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne in the hope, at least, of having the ban cut.
The time necessary to collect all the documentation and legal formalities also mean Chelsea will need to approach CAS for an interim stay of execution which would enable them to undertake transfer business this summer pending the appeal.
Chelsea, third in the Premier League, are already guaranteed a return to the Champions League next season whether they win or lose against Frankfurt or then win or lose against Arsenal or Valencia in the final in Baku on May 29.
They drew 1-1 in Germany last week but manager Maurizio Sarri must contend with various injury problems ahead of the return.
Central defenders Antonio Rudiger and veteran Gary Cahill are not the only latest victims of the stresses and strains of intense competition at home and abroad. Hard-working World Cup-winner N’Golo Kante had to be substituted in the 3:0 weekend win over Watford with a hamstring injury. He will miss the Europa return.
Sarri blamed himself, saying: “He should probably have had a rest. It is difficult to put an important player like Kante on the bench but I have to say I made a mistake. We want him to play the final so we will try to recover him for that.”
FIFA statement:
The FIFA Appeal Committee has decided to partially uphold the appeal lodged by Chelsea FC against the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to sanction the club with a ban on registering new players at both national and international level for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods.
This ban applied to the club as a whole – with the exception of the women’s and futsal teams – and did not prevent the release of players.
With respect to all men’s teams, the ban on registering new players, both nationally and internationally for two registration periods, has been confirmed by the FIFA Appeal Committee, with the following exception:
The FIFA Appeal Committee believes that Chelsea’s wrongdoing consisted in not respecting the prohibition from internationally transferring or registering for the first time foreign minor players.
In the committee´s opinion, imposing a ban on registering each and every minor would not be proportionate to the offence committed. Consequently, the FIFA Appeal Committee decided that, as far as youth categories are concerned, the ban shall not cover the registration of minor players under the age of 16 who do not fall under the scope of art. 19 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, which refers to international transfers and first registrations of foreign minor players.
Additionally, the FIFA Appeal Committee confirmed the fine of CHF 600,000.
The decision issued by the FIFA Appeal Committee was notified today.
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