Fifa have banned Chelsea from registering any new players in the next two transfer windows.

The world's governing body have handed down the punishment after French clubs Lens made an official complaint over Chelsea's signing of their young player Gael Kakuta in 2007.

Fifa's Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) has now found in Lens' favour and ruled that Chelsea are 'jointly and severally liable'.

As such Chelsea have been banned from signing players over the next two transfer windows, which will mean they will not be able to bring a player into the club until 2011.

As well as the ban Chelsea have been fined £680,000 and will have to pay Lens £113,000 in compensation.

Kakuta, a regular in Chelsea's reserve side, has also been banned from playing for the next four months.
Statement

The full statement from Fifa reads: "On the occasion of its last meeting held on 27 August 2009, the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) was called to pass a decision in a contractual dispute opposing the French club Lens to the French player Gael Kakuta and the English club Chelsea.

"The French club had lodged a claim with Fifa seeking compensation for breach of contract from the player and requesting also sporting sanctions to be imposed on the player and the English club for breach of contract and inducement to breach of contract respectively.

"The DRC found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club. Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that the English club induced the player to such a breach.

"As a result the player was condemned to pay compensation in the amount of €780,000, for which the club, Chelsea, are jointly and severally liable, and sporting sanctions were imposed on both the player and Chelsea in accordance with art. 17 par. 3 and 4 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.

"A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches has been imposed on Kakuta. Chelsea are banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision. Furthermore, the club, Chelsea, have to pay Lens training compensation in the amount of €130,000."

"It is all rumours," Lens administrative director Francis Collado told the club's official website. "Gael Kakuta is under contract with us for two more years.

"If a club is attracted they have to contact us. These rumours are entirely unfounded."

Collado also warned the Blues not to get on the wrong side of FIFA rules.

He added: "If he is contacted when he is under contract and signs for another club, the risk is a six-month suspension for the player and a year ban for signing players by the club.

"These are the rules of Fifa and there is no reason for them not to apply to Chelsea."

Skamp i really doubt they will win the appeal, I will explain why shortly but if they do then it is unfair on roma

Roma were banned for the same length of time for doing the same thing to mexes

here is the article for proof, roma failed in their appeal which is why i doubt chelsea will succeed unless they prove they are not guilty of it

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/n...sid=313525.html

the one thing chelsea can doo is delay the ban by keep on appealing

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/n...sid=324602.html

Le Havre president Jean-Pierre Louvel has contacted Fifa about Manchester United's signing of Paul Pogba.

Chelsea were hit with an 18-month transfer embargo earlier this week following their illegal purchase of Gael Kakuka from Lens in 2007.

Le Havre were quick to praise Fifa for taking such a stance and threatened to report United for the way they approached teenage star Pogba.

World football's governing body announced on Friday they had yet to receive an official complaint from Le Havre but Louvel claims he has now submitted the case.

The French official hopes Fifa will come down just as hard on United as they did with the Blues.

"The player had a no-hire agreement, and so had to sign his first contract in France," Louvel told radio station France Info.

"But he didn't sign it because Manchester United contacted the parents and made astronomical and excessive financial propositions for a 15-year-old boy.

"We have submitted the case to Fifa. The letter to leave has not been agreed by the French Federation, so today Fifa has been referred.

"I hope we will get the same result (as the Gaël Kakuta case), which could justify to those clubs they can't do anything and they have rules to respect."

Fifa have yet to confirm receipt of the complaint, while United insisted on Friday they would challenge any case brought against them.

...it would appear that United might be getting the same sort of treatment if proven guilty...

they have to prove they had a mutual no hire agreement i believe

chelsea got a youngster who agreed a pre contract with his club.

the full facts are still not out, we will find out what agreements were broken was fifa has heard the case

really poor stuff, united threaten to sue the club if they report them to fifa

Why threaten to sue an itty bitty club if you are innocent?? And also what do they stand to gain if they reported Man Utd and they knew it wasnt true??? Pointless raising the issue if there was no credence to it....

seems to me united are worried about fifa getting hold of the complaint and are trying to make sure it doesnt get that far

looks like they have something to hide...

fifa have yet to confirm it. why would united threaten them if they were innocent? surely they would wait until they got their not guilty verdict

this just makes it look united have something to hide?

i pray with the amount of youngsters liverpool have tapped up dont back fire. all of the top 4 have been tapping up for years

fiorentina reported united now lol

we are fcking skint anyway, we lost half of the alonso money which went to the owners and had a 0 budget from them as well. this way the owners cant get any of the player sales money those wankers

Yeah in a way i expect utd to get done over this. There have been many reports of united tapping up in the past. But as Phil said, i'm pretty sure united give kids parents jobs, i think it was either Petruzzi or Macheda whose dad was given a job as a groundskeeper to get them here.

they should just ban under 18 transfers which i think is a good idea

The goundsman thing was to the Da silva Twin's dad. He was a gardener by trade in Brazil. They will have helped out other parents though in same way. Providing jobs (translator maybe (if they speak english) or getting them a house/appartment.

It looks like it is something we do often...Petrucci's dad too

the slave comment is different here is what he meant by it

"But most of the cases we have on our desk are from Africa to Europe or South America to Europe.

"They are taken at 14 or 15 years old with clubs saying that their parents are going too. But they get put into another family, and what happens to them?

"One out of say 20 has a chance to go on in their career. The others are left, and they need to be protected.

"There is an age limit in the Fifa statute that stops a player being transferred internationally until he is 18. The European Union is different, it is 16.

"We now have a committee where each case is dealt with individually to see if a transfer can be allowed or not," added Blatter, who was in Cardiff to open a new Football Association of Wales training complex in the Vale of Glamorgan.

"It is the start of greater control of our game, to protect the young players.

"I have been asked by officials in Brazil to stop the exodus of their young players, and we will do the same in Africa.

"We are trying to organise leagues so players there can earn a decent living. That takes time, but we have started because it is the only way to protect young players.

"This current issue happened two years ago, I do not know why it has taken this time, but there are so many cases on the desks of Fifa."

Thank you. I did not know

so what if you did? are you bitter about us having our act together off the pitch as well as on it?

sorry fella........its the scousers on here,making me paranoid and making me treat every post with a cynical eye