Football news - Chelsea ‘astonished’ after FIFA deny request to postpone transfer ban

Chelsea were banned from registering new players for two transfer windows after having been found guilty of breaching FIFA’s regulations regarding minors.

The club were found guilty of 29 incidents of breaching article 19, they refuted the findings and appealed the ruling.

As part of that appeal Chelsea hoped to have their transfer ban suspended, which would have allowed them to sign players this summer.

However, FIFA have rejected that request, and as such the Blues will still be unable to register players whilst their appeal goes through, they can take the situation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to grant an interim ruling if they like.

Chelsea quickly released a statement saying that they were “astonished” and believed that they were “being treated inconsistently”.

Chelsea Football Club is astonished by the FIFA Appeal Committee’s decision not to suspend its sanction pending completion of the appeal process.

The club acted in accordance with the relevant regulations and has already notified FIFA of its intention to appeal against the Disciplinary Committee’s decision and sanction. As a matter of procedural fairness and equality of treatment, and Swiss law, the Club’s right to an appeal process must be afforded, before any irremediable sanction takes effect.

So far as the club is aware, in all previous cases where a registration ban has been imposed by FIFA, a decision has also been made to suspend the sanction until the appeal process has been completed. In this case, Chelsea considers that it is being treated inconsistently in comparison with other European clubs.

We will consider our next steps once we have received the written reasons for this decision from FIFA. The Club notes the Appeal Committee’s statement that it has the right to appeal to CAS. In the meantime the Club will continue to fully cooperate with the proceedings.

In their statement Chelsea mentioned inconsistencies with how they were being treated and whilst it wasn't specifically referenced they are likely talking about bans for Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

In each of those situations they appealed and were able to sign players during the appeal.

It is unclear why exactly FIFA have chosen a different path but the new FIFA appeal panel chairman, Thomas Bodstrom, joined after the incidents involving the Spanish clubs.

There are also new senior lawyers at FIFA which could represent a change in philosophy.