Chelsea have criticised Fifa’s “deeply unsatisfactory” conduct when imposing a two-window transfer ban after they were cleared by the court of arbitration for sport to sign players in January.
Chelsea said they had been treated differently by Fifa to Manchester City and branded elements of the governing body’s approach “perverse”. They also claimed Fifa risked undermining itself through “inconsistent and unequal sanctions”.
City avoided a Fifa transfer ban in August despite being found guilty of breaching rules on youth signings.
“The approach taken by Fifa to this case has been deeply unsatisfactory, not least as Fifa chose to treat Chelsea entirely differently to Manchester City for reasons that make absolutely no sense to Chelsea,” read a Chelsea statement.
“Chelsea respects the importance of the work undertaken by Fifa in relation to the protection of minors and has fully cooperated with Fifa throughout its investigation.
“However, if Fifa continues to impose inconsistent and unequal sanctions on clubs then it will not only undermine the very purpose of the regulations, but it will also bring into doubt the game’s confidence in Fifa being able to appropriately regulate this important area.”
Cas on Friday announced that it had halved Chelsea’s transfer ban for breaches of the rules regarding dealings with overseas players under the age of 18. Fifa’s punishment covered last summer – which they served – and was due to take in next month, too. That has now been cancelled.
Chelsea’s appeal to Fifa failed but they have enjoyed stunning success with Cas, which announced its decision on Friday morning. Fifa had investigated Chelsea for rule breaches in relation to 150 players, with the most serious concerning transgressions of its article 19. It emerged in February that the governing body had charged them with 92 breaches of this article and found them guilty in 29 cases. The club were also found by Fifa to have broken other rules, including one that concerned third-party influence.
But in a judgement that rocked Fifa and its long-running investigation, Cas stated that Chelsea had only transgressed in “about a third” of the 27 article 19 violations. Furthermore, Cas found the club’s other rule breaches “to be less serious”. It also halved Chelsea’s fine to 300,000 Swiss Francs (£230,000).
Chelsea had always argued that the majority of the cases against them involved short-term trialists at their academy, who did not go on to sign. They said there was no law against trying out under-18 international players; that it was common practice across Europe and, as such, they believed these cases ought not to have been included in the final judgment.
The full written grounds for Cas’s decision have not yet been released – the parties are expected to be notified of them in early 2020 – but it would appear that Cas has taken Chelsea’s side on their arguments over the short-terms trialists.
Fifa’s basic rule is that clubs cannot bring in players under 18 from other countries, unless their parents have emigrated for reasons not connected to football or both the player and club are based within 50km of a national border. Under article 19, the only other exception is for transfers within either the European Union or European Economic Area where the player is aged between 16 and 18.
