FIFA ban Chelsea from signing players through next season

LONDON: Chelsea were banned from signing players until after the 2019-2020 season, the latest European power punished by FIFA for flouting rules protecting young talent from premature international moves.

FIFA punished the London club owned by Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich for violations of rules regarding the protection of minors that involve 29 players, Chelsea said.

FIFA rules provide specific circumstances in which clubs may sign players under 18.

Like Barcelona in 2015 and Atletico Madrid throughout 2017, Chelsea were barred from signing new players for two transfer windows, covering this summer and January 2020.

Chelsea already have announced plans to appeal the ban and a fine of US$600,000 (RM2.4mil).

The English Football Association, who have oversight of transfers in England, were fined US$510,000 (RM2.1mil) by FIFA and given six months to “address the situation concerning the international transfer and first registration of minors in football”, FIFA said.

In some cases, players under the age of 18 spent time on trial at Chelsea but were not registered with the football authorities, people with knowledge of the case said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss specifics of the case.

Part of the FIFA case focused on players exceeding what is considered a reasonable amount of time to be considered a trialist and making return trips to Chelsea, one of the people said.

The punishment is the latest blow for Chelsea, who have dropped to sixth in the English Premier League and were knocked out of the English FA Cup by Manchester United on Monday.

Abramovich, who has transformed the London club since his 2003 takeover, has been unable to travel to Britain since his visa expired at the end of last April.

International transfers involving players under 18 are prohibited unless their families had already moved to the new country for non-football reasons or they are close to the border of another nation.

There is an exception for clubs within the European Union and European Economic Community that allows the transfer of 16- to 18-year-old players provided conditions are met on education and living conditions.