Chelsea have been handed a two transfer window ban and fined £460,000 by FIFA for breaching the rules around the transfer of minors.
This is the outcome of a lengthy investigation by world football’s governing body, with the FA also been found to have broken rules and fined £390,000.
Will Chelsea appeal? How did it get to this? What happens next? Here, Sportsmail answers your questions on the stunning announcement.
Why have FIFA handed them this ban?
Chelsea have been found to have breached article 19 of FIFA's regulations with regards to the transfer of 29 minor players and article 18 regarding two further minors.
As a result, they will now not be allowed to register new recruits this summer or next January. They will still be allowed to sell and it does not apply to their women's teams.
How did this all start?
Remember Bertrand Traore? The signing of the Burkino Faso forward, who now plays for Ligue 1 club Lyon, sparked this investigation into Chelsea’s conduct.
Traore officially joined the club in January 2014 but was found to have appeared multiples times for the Blues as a minor despite not being registered by the FA.
It was claimed FIFA found evidence that Chelsea had misled them over the dates of his signing.
Did Chelsea anticipate this?
They were braced for this news. The club spent significantly last summer – £128.6m in total, making them the second-biggest spenders in the Premier League.
They also signed Christian Pulisic, the Borussia Dortmund winger who was signed but loaned back to the German club immediately. He will join in the summer.
It is believed the contracts in place on their loanees mean they will still be allowed to sign Gonzalo Higuain permanently but not midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
Can they appeal?
Chelsea are likely to appeal to FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. They will hope that means they can delay the ban until after this summer, so as to give them time to do business.
The club have not yet announced how they plan to proceed. They have three days to respond.
What impact will this have on their current crop of players?
Naturally, they will now not want to sell because they cannot bring new signings in.
Chelsea will now be even more determined to keep Eden Hazard, the long-term Real Madrid target. He will know their inability to sign a replacement
Callum Hudson-Odoi will find it even more difficult to make his big-money move to Bayern Munich. England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek may find himself stuck, too.
At the last count, Chelsea’s loan army stood at 41, so they will be due back this summer.
Where does this leave the club?
Chelsea are in disarray. They have an owner in Roman Abramovich who has appeared disinterested this season, and still have not replaced technical director Michael Emenalo.
Manager Maurizio Sarri remains on the brink of the sack – a loss to Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final could see him dismissed – and now no transfers.
Why have the FA been fined, too?
It happened on their watch and they have been found to have broken rules regarding the international transfer and registration of minors.
Have they responded?
Yes, and they will appeal.
A statement confirmed: ’The FA notes the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee published today. The FA has cooperated fully with FIFA’s investigations, although we have raised some concerns with FIFA regarding its disciplinary processes.
‘The FA intends to appeal the decision. We will however continue to work with FIFA and Chelsea in a constructive manner to address the issues which are raised by this case.
‘As this is an ongoing legal process it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.’
What are FIFA’s rules exactly?
FIFA bans the transfer of Under-18s to different countries unless they meet strict criteria.
This includes a) the player's parents move to the country in which the new club is located for non-footballing reasons, b) both clubs are in the European Union or European Economic Area and the player is aged between 16 and 18. Even then, the buying club must meet more criteria relating to education, training, living conditions and support, and c) they live within 100km of the club.
Abbawaziri
3
I believe Chelsea can survive without transfer market if fifa will give the chance to bring in players this summer then Chelsea will survive nonetheless we have many young talents and good squad depth if nobody is leaving and we bring in more talents then everything will be ok.
ledbinry
0
Please just keep the young play
rimaelpsz
1
now is the right time to bring back all loan players and start to build new team
Mohammedy86
0
All this punishment will lay on the shoulders of our embarrassing , non-qualified set of board members who tend to do what they like and appoint whoever they want to appoint and don't abide the laws of the game , so anything negative that occurs within that timeframe has to be their sole mistakes
Pmehin26
0
When u can't stop someone directly from ur office for ur dislikes, u use systemic means. FIFA president has finally succeed in punishing for signing young players and sending them out on loan. God please give Chelsea board the good understanding of this present situation to sack Sarri and appoint zidane to make better use of our talented youths.
Pmehin26
0
The irony of Chelsea getting banned for signing young players when they don't play young players......
that's actually d irony of this decision FIFA's president was d first to make that known. he once condensed Chelsea of signing players and sending them out on loan.
dforever
0
The irony of Chelsea getting banned for signing young players when they don't play young players......
negative
1
Good thing we have a bunch of youth play- oh wait.
exampleen
0
When it rains, it pours.
podkill
0
It'd be ironic if they were forced into playing their younger players and it kickstarted their youth system again.
Sampsons
0
Really bad timing for Chelsea. Maybe they try to keep Hazard but then he's going to go for free. Blues are stuck with Higuain now as it seems they'll have to pick up the option given they can't sign a replacement. Good news for Juve. Forgot about the appeal process. Going to be a busy summer for them
leadership
0
Ban for the next two windows? Wow Chelsea are done for the next season
emphasi
1
Blessing in disguise. Youth will finally get a chance. Lampard could take the reins and rebuild from the ground up. No more stupid signings like Drinkwater or Bakayoko. A cleansing for Chelsea, a detox if you will.
Leoless
0
Chelsea should've moved to Serie A when they had the chance
seeing
0
Sarri said at the beginning of the season he's more interested in developing player rather than signing one. Well I guess he got perfect opportunity for it now. Apparently Chelsea will appeal and will get the ban reduce to just one window... hopefully a winter one. If not we can always bribe them is not like FIFA got any moral standards or anything
Mickmerlin
0
Too bad for Sarri it doesn't include managers
Kalandari
0
I welcome this tbf, might actually develope some talent and make the board realize it isn’t always best to buy a ton of £30m players.
Ocioso
0
Sounds entirely fair. Best decision FIFA have made for a while
missyou
0
They will just appeal it and buy big this summer
wepekln
0
People talking all about Chelsea; no-one here is discussing the fact that the English FA have also been punished for this too. That is a glaring problem that the FA have allowed this to go through and FIFA have punished a national FA for it. It will also hurt any appeal Chelsea might make; as FIFA will also point out how they've punished the organisation directly above them for it too.
Mohimrty
1
Chelsea ia going to relegate next season 😂😂
cape
0
Might be a blessing in disguise for Chelsea, as they might finally start using some of their talented academy players. Also, we can’t forget about their loan army.
Sedoso
0
That means, Kovacic is gone in the summer right? Since they can't buy him back? Or am i wrong?
hunting
0
Can someone explain what they specifically did that was against the rules? I read the article but am not sure what was the part that actually broke the rules when they were signing the under 18 players.
amicablef
0
So two transfer windows, ending at the end of January 2020.
foolhardy
0
The real question is, can Chelsea sign managers in this time? If not maybe we can bring 2 new in this summer so we still have that option of firing one, dont wanna give a manager a too much breathing room and time.
Bongwag
0
Well its a good thing they a million players on loan
Maxwelle
0
Couldn’t happen to a nicer club
campuser
0
Not ideal but maybe spin a positive and the club can look better at players they already have, as well as long term scouting of targets. Chelsea will cope without any fuss. It might dent their hopes of league and CL for one or two seasons but that's about it.
Phoesha
0
Does this mean one of the 42 players they've currently got out on loan might get a look in?