Chelsea face a possible transfer ban after being accused of breaking FIFA rules in a recent investigation, according to The Guardian.
The rules relate to signing players from overseas who are under the age of 18, rules which Chelsea have reportedly broken while signing 25 young foreign players.
Spanish giants Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have all been accused of breaking rules about signing minors, resulting in Barca and Atleti serving two window transfer bans, while Real just served one after a successful appeal.
One transfer which was investigated was that of Bertrand Traore, who was pictured playing for the Pensioners against Arsenal’s youth in 2011, when he was a minor, and it is believed that this goes against FIFA’s Article 19, due to Traore’s background, emigration and that he is not exempted as he was not in the EU at the time.
FIFA’s TMS (Transfer Matching System) investigated the Blues and found 25 cases where Chelsea may have broken FIFA rules, and the disciplinary committee are searching for further cases and will be looking at any transfer into Chelsea’s youth system for the next decade.
When the investigation is complete, if Chelsea are found guilty then they will have to appeal, like the three Spanish clubs did.
The breach of Article 19 is the most serious of all accusations, while other minor offences include such things as “failure to request authorisation through the correct channels.”
When Barcelona were found guilty, they were guilty of 39 cases out of 70 that were investigated which resulted in the two window transfer ban, which could happen to Chelsea.
FIFA have not commented on what the details of the investigation are or whether an investigation is happening at all.
