Blues defender Andreas Christensen has revealed the club will attempt to keep hold of all their star players this summer.
Chelsea’s appeal against their two-window transfer ban for signing underage players will be heard by a FIFA appeal committee on April 11. At one point, FIFA was investigating more than 100 cases involving Chelsea, going back several years, but eventually charged the Blues with 92 breaches of article 19 – the rule prohibiting the registration of minors – and other charges related to the club having third-party influence over other club’s players.
Chelsea successfully defended themselves in 63 of these cases at a FIFA disciplinary committee but was found guilty of 29 illegal transfers.
The Stamford Bridge outfit was given 90 days to “regularise the situation of the minor players concerned” and the Football Association was also given a £390,000 fine for letting Chelsea register these players.
Strongly denying any wrongdoing, both Chelsea and the FA made their intentions to appeal clear at the outset, although only Chelsea are mentioned in Monday’s FIFA statement about next month’s hearing.
No other details were given in the short statement from a FIFA spokesperson.
And Blues defender Andreas Christensen has revealed the club will attempt to keep hold of all their star players, such as Eden Hazard, this summer in response to the sanction.
Chelsea was hit with the ban, which runs until July 2020, last month and was also fined £460,000 for 29 breaches of FIFA’s rules on the international transfer of minors.
Cross-border transfers of players aged under 18 are banned unless there are specific, non-football reasons for the player moving to the relevant country, although players aged over 16 can move within the European Economic Area.