Chelsea banned for two transfer windows

Premier League club side, Chelsea have been banned from signing new players in the next two transfer windows as punishment for breaking rules on registering under-age players, Fifa said on Friday.

In a statement, FIFA said Chelsea had also been fined 600,000 Swiss Francs ($599,460) and had been given 90 days to “regularise the situation”.

After a lengthy investigation into how Chelsea register players at academy level, they were found to have breached article 19 of the regulations in the case of 29 minor players.

FIFA added the London club had also breached article 18bis in connection with two agreements it concluded concerning minors and which allowed it to influence other clubs in transfer-related matters.

Chelsea were yet to comment on the transfer ban.

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If Chelsea don’t contest the transfer ban, it leaves them in a tight corner as they won’t be able to bring in new players to bolster the squad, with players such as Mauro Icardi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Ivan Rakitic, Philippe Coutinho and Elseid Hysaj linked with a permanent switch to Stamford Bridge.

In their bid to have a competitive squad next season, Chelsea could decide to recall their loan players, including Nigerian stars Victor Moses, Ola Aina, Kenneth Omeruo, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham.

Moses’s initial agreement with Fenerbahce was due to run out in June 2020 while Aina and Omeruo had purchase clauses in the deals taking the defenders to Torino and CD Leganes.

It is likely that Tomori and Abraham would not be allowed to depart Chelsea on a permanent transfer in the summer due to the transfer ban.