Chelsea’s transfer ban lifted after appeal to Cas

Chelsea can sign players in January after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) ruled that the club’s transfer ban should be lifted.

The club took the case to Cas after an appeal to Fifa over a two-window ban was rejected.

Chelsea were unable to sign players during the summer transfer window and the ban was due to end in February.

However, Cas have found in the Blues’ favour, paving the way for the club to make signings during next month’s transfer window.

Fifa imposed the ban after finding Chelsea guilty of breaking rules on the signing of players under the age of 18.

Cas have also halved Chelsea’s fine from £460,000 to £230,000.

Fifa found 150 rule breaches involving 69 academy players during a period of several seasons.

However, Cas found that Chelsea “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”.

The Cas verdict added: “The violations of other RSTP (Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players) rules were found to be less serious than those attributed to Chelsea by Fifa.”