Chelsea handed transfer ban

Fifa act over Gael Kakuta transfer

By Graeme Bailey   Last updated: 4th September 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Chelsea handed transfer ban

Chelsea: Transfer ban over Kakuta deal

This decision confirms our aim to ensure contractual stability. It is an important ruling for football in general.

Fifa spokesperson.
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Fifa have banned Chelsea from registering any new players in the next two transfer windows.

The world's governing body have handed down the punishment after French clubs Lens made an official complaint over Chelsea's signing of their young player Gael Kakuta in 2007.

Fifa's Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) has now found in Lens' favour and ruled that the Blues are 'jointly and severally liable'.

As such, the Stamford Bridge club have been banned from signing players over the next two transfer windows, which means they will not be able to bring in any new faces until 2011.

18-year-old Kakuta, a regular in Chelsea's reserve side, has also been banned from playing for the next four months and fined £680,000.

Chelsea are also liable over Kakuta's fine, and they also will have to pay Lens £113,000 in compensation.

A Fifa spokesperson stated: "This decision confirms our aim to ensure contractual stability. It is an important ruling for football in general."

Statement

The full statement from Fifa reads: "On the occasion of its last meeting held on 27 August 2009, the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) was called to pass a decision in a contractual dispute opposing the French club Lens to the French player Gael Kakuta and the English club Chelsea.

"The French club had lodged a claim with Fifa seeking compensation for breach of contract from the player and requesting also sporting sanctions to be imposed on the player and the English club for breach of contract and inducement to breach of contract respectively.

"The DRC found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club. Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that the English club induced the player to such a breach.

"As a result the player was condemned to pay compensation in the amount of €780,000, for which the club, Chelsea, are jointly and severally liable, and sporting sanctions were imposed on both the player and Chelsea in accordance with art. 17 par. 3 and 4 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.

"A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches has been imposed on Kakuta. Chelsea are banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision. Furthermore, the club, Chelsea, have to pay Lens training compensation in the amount of €130,000."

Appeal

Chelsea, who have yet to comment on the sanction from Fifa, do have the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The Blues are not the first club to have been punished in such a way.

Roma were also given a ban for two transfer windows following defender Philippe Mexes' move from Auxerre in 2004.

Roma appealed to the CAS and had the ban cut to one transfer window. If the same situation was repeated it would mean Chelsea being unable to sign players until next summer.

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Comments (177)

Guppy Smalls (Manchester United fan) says...

I think the punishment is justified I'm pretty sure FIFA did'nt decide the ban over night, also there have been many clubs who have had the same treatment as pointed out by many others. Do chelsea feel they are too big to be punished? I think any team that is found guilty of the same type of mob tactics should be punished in the same manner, including my fave team Man Utd. And how can Chelsea award this lad scholar of the year when they played no part n his development... and what did the other youngsters think of this?

Posted 16:19 4th September 2009

Dan Waite says...

I notice a lot of people saying that FIFA and UEFA are making an example of English clubs, have any of these people even read the article? Roma, an ITALIAN side, were the first to be punished for such an offence in 2004. Please read the facts before making ridiculous accusations people. Anyway, in my personal opinion, FIFA were right to punish Chelsea. Any club that uses money and power in this way should be. It's things like this which are ruining the game.

Posted 15:42 4th September 2009

Craig Newton (Chelsea fan) says...

I'm sorry but yet again we have one of football's governing bodies attacking English teams.I feel the punishment is extremly harsh but as with Eduardo and Arsenal,the English teams are being made an example of yet again. These kind of things happen all the time,just look at Ronaldo and Real Madrid,that was the most blatant 'tapping up' I had ever seen and was any action taken? No. Platini (UEFA) and Blatter (FIFA) regularly try to discredit and knock the Premier League,whilst a lot of this diving and tapping up are commited just as much in other leagues,the hypocrites. Personally i don't feel that this punishment will affect Chelsea too much,we have a good strong squad,and some good youth players coming through,but I hope Chelsea fight this decision all the way. UP THE BLUES.

Posted 15:04 4th September 2009

Chris Roberts (Chelsea fan) says...

I can understand non-Chelsea fans taking delight in the decision as what better way to level the playing fields (similar to Formula 1) and whilst I cannot condone that which is illegal I will be most surprised if other clubs have not engaged in similar activities in the past. Bearing in mind that when purchasing from other English clubs the excessive fees paid by clubs such as Chelsea are injected directly back into these clubs, this ban is also not good for the English game per se - but then I believe that this is ultimatly the goal (no pun intended) of FIFA! They don't like seeing you guys having the best, most exciting league in the world.

Posted 14:58 4th September 2009

Sean Page (Manchester United fan) says...

Who actually cares about this, Chelsea will appeal and the gutless idiots that run football will reduce the ban to one window so Chelsea wont be able to sign anyone in the January transfer window which they probably had no intention of doing anyway so the punishment wont effect chelsea in the slightest

Posted 14:32 4th September 2009

Roby El zein (Manchester United fan) says...

I think this is a disgrace FIFA powered by Sepp Blatter and Uefa by Michel Platini... it seems they have a plan to stop the english clubs from succeeding, remember the talks of UEFA planning "Luxury tax" on big spenders!! this is just the beginning and chelsea are not the only target believe me... if they loose the appeal the fans shouldnt be quite they should protest... They want to ruin the premier league!! investors are making the game more competitive and interesting... u look at the teams this season and one has no idea who is going to win so PROTEST...

Posted 14:31 4th September 2009

Stuart Broadley (Arsenal fan) says...

I think the EPL Fans are blowing this out of proportion. Chelsea deserve the ban because they have been warned and the broken rules have been made clear. Assumptions from fans that this is an attack on english football is complete rubbish. For many years La liga and Serie A and other leagues have developed major players like ronaldo, Villa, Xavi, Veron etc etc without the major spending of the EPL. The truth is there is alot of foreing talent out there thats y th EPL dont buy players from the uk they have to go outside. If the quality of the English players was much better we wuldnt have so many foreign stars in our teams today. Talk of this being an attack on EPL teams is ridiculous. Shouldnt break the rules in the first place.English football has always been 2nd to spanish and foreign talent thats why we have never won a world cup since 66.Look at the top 10 players in the world today Messi, Xavi, Etoo Villa, Kaka Ronaldo, Silva, Iniesta, Alonso, Senna etc etc are they english?? Lampard, Gerrard and rooney are prob the only crop of playesrs at the moment who are world class. Can you think of any one else, seriously?? get a grip EPL fans we know this league is all about the money not the talent.itsd all revenue revenue revenue

Posted 13:44 4th September 2009

Waqas Ahmed (Liverpool fan) says...

This is a great news.Now they will not sell young British players........................

Posted 13:36 4th September 2009

Paul Jane (Leeds United fan) says...

Well,well,well Chelsea finally get what they deserve,it should have been years ago and banned longer,remember the tapping up of Arnesen,Mikel,Cole, just who the hell do they think they are just because they've got a few million roubles should be relegated to confrence league south.

Posted 13:32 4th September 2009

Graeme Page says...

They (Chelsea) did the same tapping up Ashley Cole and only got a fine which was nothing to Abramovich, so as they've done it again the punishment should rightly be stepped up to a ban and if they do it again ban them from the Champions League and keep on until they stop trying to just buy and bribe their way to everything. Serves them right, if they want good young players, like we all do, go about it properly and above board.

Posted 13:30 4th September 2009

Edmond Visha (Aston Villa fan) says...

very harsh on CHELSEA,but before everyone starts saying that there's a conspiracy against english clubs,let me tell you that this ruling isn't unprecedented! AS ROMA had the same ban impossed on them,after they signed MEXES from AUXERRE.they were found guilty of missbehaving and they were rightly punished,just like Chelsea are now. basically what FIFA are doing,they are trying to protect the small clubs,and there's plenty of those in ENGLAND too,so there's no conspiracy there. i for one say:WELL DONE FIFA,it's good for our beloved sport

Posted 13:03 4th September 2009

David Lane says...

Surely Chelsea had the money to be able to make a proper bid for this player?? he was 16 at the time of the transfer, a 4 million pound bid could have secured his services if they wanted him that much? i dont understand why they had to break the rules to sign him, they have enough money just make a normal offer like they would do any other player!!

Posted 12:56 4th September 2009

John Matrix says...

Between this sanction and the Eduardo ban I feel the EPL should be very VERY worried at the developing trend at UEFA and FIFA. Firstly how they can justify banning a player for diving (Hardly a new culture) and then close the door on the issue is beyond me. The Chelsea ban is a little less of a farce as it is not the first time in a couple of years they have been in serious breach of rules. Where I would sympatise with them is that I refuse to believe Real have not commited similar breaches. Is this an EPL issue? I think so.

Posted 12:30 4th September 2009

Craig Laskey (Newcastle United fan) says...

At the end of the day, Chelsea have broke the rules and done so quite obviously for everyone to see, therefore they deserve to be punished. Claiming that others get away with it and aren't punished is not a defence, they broke they rules, they got caught and so they get punished. It's the same as anything really, they obviously have the evidence of this happening and so can provide the punishment. Personally I think it's a good thing as it might stop them doing it in the future. It's the same as this Eduardo saga, we know loads of players dive and should be punished for it, but that was so clear for everyone to see, he cheated the game and he got banned, I think he should have been banned for longer and I'd like to see more players banned for it. I don't think we should condemn the authorities for taking action in these cases, more condemn them for not taking more action in other cases. I hope this is a sign of things to come at it might clean this game up and get it back to being about playing football.

Posted 12:08 4th September 2009

Jordan Armstrong (Newcastle United fan) says...

Serves them right, big clubs get away with too much these days and I'm glad to see a smaller team standing up for themselves.

Posted 11:59 4th September 2009

Gunner Ivannawanc (Arsenal fan) says...

Hey Chelsea. I would love to say what a terrible decision however i would be lying :). This is so goood! Looks like the Russian Billionaire will have to start building on his talent rather than just ripping off the investment made in players by poorer teams, unfortunately its only 2 transfer windows. lol

Posted 08:37 4th September 2009

Imraan Sathria (Manchester United fan) says...

Chelsea deserve this punishment. No team should be above the law even if you have all the money in the world. Is this not the same thing that Chelsea did with John Obi Mikel? He signed for United and they made him say that he was forced to sign for us.

Posted 08:29 4th September 2009

Mark Askam (Gillingham fan) says...

Maybe Uefa show re-wind the video tapes and award ronaldo a 30 game ban if thats how arsenal are treated, seams like they are gunning for english clubs - tried to change the rules when Man City put in high bids for players, appointment a blind ref for the semi final with chealsea and barcalona, and now this with chealsea, About time there was some one from a diffrent country on the uefa big board and not any more French or Germans,

Posted 08:23 4th September 2009

Dan Garratt (Wolverhampton Wanderers fan) says...

Following Arjen Robben's comments, chelsea struggle? NO! I think this is a blessing in disguise, now they know no changes can be made to the squad, Ancellotti can concentrate on his current crop and build a system thats going to win silverware. Only problem with that is Abramovich is going to be thinking, "Why has it cost this much so far"

Posted 07:54 4th September 2009

Burton Brown (Manchester United fan) says...

The clauses in under age players should be controlled by FIFA period.If a player want's to join a proffessional club all contracts must be handled by FIFA,it will solve the problem,so clubs can't be held liable if the player want's out.He must sign a 3year deal that's it,after that FIFA realeses him to any club for a minimum/maximum they deem fit in the best interest off the player.

Posted 07:53 4th September 2009

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