FIFA turns down Chelsea's appeal against transfer ban

The Blues may approach the Court of Arbitration for Sport as the final arbiter in the matter.

The Blues have lost their case to FIFA over their two-window transfer ban for breaking regulations relating to the international registration of players under the age of 18.

Chelsea had been fined £460,000 and banned from entering the transfer window until 2020 over breaching regulations regarding the signing of players under the age of 18 in the month of February. They were sanctioned for being involved in 29 such signings.

On Wednesday, FIFA said in a 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.”

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“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.”

However, Chelsea could revert back on the ban by appealing to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), which could allow them to sign new players in the summer transfer window.

Chelsea sent 41 players out on loan during the 2018-19 season.2019-20 will be the perfect opportunity to use them. ???? pic.twitter.com/izBZkeX3Do

— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) May 8, 2019

The ban had the come with the concession of signing players under the age of 16. FIFA released a statement,

"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."

Chelsea could now follow the suit of Barcelona, who had faced a similar verdict in 2014 but overturned the prohibition by the end of the year by successfully appealing to FIFA.