Premier League - Chelsea hit with transfer ban

Eurosport - Fri, 04 Sep 08:53:00 2009

Chelsea have been banned by FIFA from registering new signings until January 2011 after being found guilty of inducing a player to break his contract with another club.

2009 Chelsea Gael Kakuta - 0

"Chelsea are banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the next two entire and consecutive registration periods (transfer windows)," FIFA said.

The Premier League club described the ruling as "extraordinarily arbitrary" and "totally disproportionate" and said they would appeal.

The decision is a crushing blow for Chelsea. The next window is in January followed by another in the middle of 2010.

The punishment was handed out following a contractual dispute involving the transfer of reserve player Gael Kakuta (pictured) from Lens in 2007.

Following a complaint from Lens, FIFA's dispute resolution chamber ruled Kakuta, now 18, had breached his contract with the French club and that Chelsea had induced him to do so.

The player was ordered to pay 780,000 euros (£682,000) compensation, which FIFA said Chelsea were "jointly liable" for, and he was given a four-month ban from competitive matches.

Chelsea were also ordered to pay "training compensation" of 130,000 euros (£114,000) to Lens.

"This underlines how important contractual stability is for FIFA and football in general," said a FIFA spokesman.

Lens president Gervais Martel told French radio station RMC: "We expected that decision. It's not because you're called Chelsea that you should not respect the law.

"They contacted him when he was not even 16 which is not acceptable. There is a rule you have to respect.

"The club and the player have been sanctioned. I don't know what will happen next. I don't expect he will be back with us," added Martel.

"We spend a lot of money on schooling. There's no reason why others should use us and benefit from it."

The London club were furious at the decision.

"Chelsea will mount the strongest possible appeal," the club said on their website. "The sanctions are without precedent to this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offence and the financial penalty imposed.

"We cannot comment further until we receive the full written rationale for this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."

Kakuta had been at Lens since he was eight, going through their schooling system. A midfielder, he is a France U19 international and was due to play in the Sendai Cup in Japan this month.

Hampered by injury, he made only five Chelsea youth team appearances and two for the reserves last season.

He began last season with hamstring problems before being sidelined in February after suffering a double fracture of the ankle in a friendly.

Kakuta's first season was more successful as he finished as the youth team's top goalscorer. Four years ago Chelsea were fined £300,000 by the Premier League over the "tapping up affair" involving the move of Ashley Cole from Arsenal.

Jose Mourinho, coach at the time, was fined £200,000 and Cole £100,000 after the three parties were found guilty of breaking league rules by attending a meeting at a London hotel.

The fines against Mourinho and Cole were later reduced to £75,000 but both had appeals dismissed by the league.

In May, Swiss club Sion were banned by FIFA from registering new players for one transfer window after the controversial signing of Egypt goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary from Al-Ahly last year.

The ban was put on hold by CAS in July after Sion appealed.

Reuters

Comment 1041 - 1060 of 1060

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  1. It's funny that so many people think Chelsea should­ be hammered by FIFA for stealing a player from poor­ little Lens. A club that cared so much about Gael­ Kakuta that they let him skip school and take none of­ his exams, Should he not make it as a footballer he­ would have had nothing to fall back on. When he joined­ the Chelsea academy they insisted he finished his­ schooling and take his exams to which they paid for him­ to attend a private French school to do so. The other­ thing that people fail to mention is that teams like­ Lens and Le Harve steal these talented Teenagers from­ smaller provincial clubs academies in the first place­ with no financial compensation yet still want to act as­ the injured party when the same is done to them.

    A­ proper system needs to be introduced to protect the­ PLAYER aswell as his Club which isn't what has­ happened in this case is it? In fact hitting the player­ with a 600K Euro fine and banning him is simply­ stifleing his developement as a player not to mention­ the pre contract Lens had restricting his right to­ freely trade himself in the first place !

    From Pete W, on Mon 7 Sep 9:58AM

  2. Good!!!!!! They deserve the punishment.Good news for­­ all BPL teams.

    From Tham, on Sat 5 Sep 7:28AM

  3. hai every one browsin on this pagebeing a blues fan the­ ban is so unfair all proffessional players have agents­ ,did FIFA summon the agent for the young lad and also­ his dad to testify . In all fairness all partys mention­ should have been given chance to say there involvment­ into this deal . GOODLUCK Kakuta where ever you will go­ and for chelsea we have a formidale team with or­ without GAEL .THE blues show them 2009/2010 we have­ come wounded .Reuben fro zambia

    From Reuben, on Sat 5 Sep 12:02AM

  4. A.RICHMOND77: MAYBE IT'S BCOS I'M LONDONER THAT­ I LOVE LONDON TOWN"MAYBE IT'S BCOS I'M
    A­ LONDONER THAT I THINK OF HER WHEREEVER I GO OH!GOT A­ FUNNY FEELING INSIDE OF ME JUST WALKING UP AND­ DOWN'MAYBE IT'S BCOS I'M A LONDONER THAT I­ LOVE LONDON TOWN' GET OF YOUR
    SISTER!! CAREFREE­ WHEREEVER YOU MAY BE WE ARE THE FAMOUS CFC AND WE­ DON'T GIVE A FU.CK
    WHO EVER YOU MAY BE COS WE ARE­ THE FAMOUS CFC..... CHELSEA&LONDON­ PROUD.............

    ............... YOU JUST HAVE AN­ INFERIORITY COMPLEX............................

    From THE FUHRER, on Fri 4 Sep 6:56PM

  5. one word....... ~BRILLIANT!! i love this so much haha­ u southern faries how'd ya like that lol!!!!!!!!!!

    From a.richmond77, on Fri 4 Sep 6:41PM

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    From WWW.PREMIERSHIP.ALTERVISTA.ORG, on Fri 4 Sep 2:33PM

  7. what to say asanshe 1084. Im a DJ.. Having too much­ fun.. Looking other club making signing while shelsea­ can only watching & paying pension for their­ retired soon players..

    From henry_sukianto, on Fri 4 Sep 2:32PM

  8. chelsea are in trouble big time

    From Bee, on Fri 4 Sep 2:25PM

  9. Its about these BIG clubs got their just desserts.­ Tapping up players from under the noses of the lesser­ clubs, who struggle to attract them or keep them after­ rising through their academies. Chelsea, Man Utd,­ Arsenal etc. should be made to pay some way. Now what­ about Man City and their obvious, much publicised­ unsettling and tapping up of Lescott? I'm get­ annoyed by the bullying tactics of these teams that­ have no idea what its like to be an everday normal club­ trying to survive! By the way I'm a Baggies fan and­ long time season ticker holder.

    From mark w, on Fri 4 Sep 1:32PM

  10. Good decision. It's time the little guys were­ represented. If chelsea wanted the player so badly,­ they should have paid the required amount.

    From Jan, on Fri 4 Sep 1:28PM

  11. I am a Man U fan Good Job FIFA. If Man U did same thing­ to Pogba also slam same sanction it's about time­ rules are followed by everyone I mean everyone­ Including my team. No tapping of players to unsettle­ teams during the season and players and their agent­ should be ban as well esp the agents they are the one­ causing all this sensation due the huge benfits they­ get from transfer negotiations. FIFA stand up to the to­ good of football.

    From Dam-Tony T, on Fri 4 Sep 12:46PM

  12. I am really interested to know how on earth did they­ manage to prove Chelsea payed off Gael's father.­ Unless his old man admitted it's a pure case of­ "he said/she said"...

    From Djordje S, on Fri 4 Sep 12:41PM

  13. half a brian you jackass wtf saintbethnal a racist?­ chelsea are not cheats u must be challenged in some­ way?lol

    From hlines123, on Fri 4 Sep 12:39PM

  14. Who cares about History.....
    Even if The Super Blues­ were playing sunday league i would still support­ them.
    I don't care about the history, blah, blah,­ blah we won 8 titles twenty years ago or whatever.
    All­ i care about is this season and the future.
    The future­ is bright the future is blue.
    This break is great as it­ now means we have the money available to build our­ 90,000 all seater stadium at Earls court. (which if you­ check obramovich owns the land)
    And unlike some clubs­ we will fill it every week, week in, week out.
    This­ will go to appeal anyway and be reduced to 1 term­ suspension as a president was set with Roma.
    CHESLEA­ ALL THE WAY

    From BILL, on Fri 4 Sep 12:36PM

  15. 1102 indeed, who said you wont win anything with­ "kids"? Arse.ne clearly thinks otherwise

    From the silent assassin, on Fri 4 Sep 12:20PM

  16. Nice one bill

    From hlines123, on Fri 4 Sep 12:16PM

  17. ha ha they deserve this because ov john obi mikel, what­ a waste of time chelsea are and they deserve everything

    From jmason18071982, on Fri 4 Sep 12:12PM

  18. stop nicking young talent from around europe, which­ means English teams are the worst, especially arsenal­ the thieves.............

    From Abbas, on Fri 4 Sep 12:11PM

  19. aresenal are cradle snatchers.........

    From Abbas, on Fri 4 Sep 12:09PM

  20. Innocent until proven guilty 1106. That's the­ system, if you don't like it start your own party!­ Ya Knead!

    From yodeller, on Fri 4 Sep 12:02PM
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