FIFA imposes 1-year transfer ban on Chelsea for luring French player Kakuta to break contract

FIFA gives Chelsea 1-year transfer ban

ZURICH — Chelsea was banned from signing any new players for a year because it encouraged a teenager to break his contract with a French team and sign with the English soccer power.

The sport’s governing body Thursday barred Chelsea from taking part in the next two transfer windows — January 2010 and the next offseason. The next time the Premier League team would be able to sign a new player — nationally or internationally — would be January 2011.

Chelsea called the penalty “without precedent” and “totally disproportionate” and said it would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

The French club Lens had complained that Chelsea lured 18-year-old striker Gael Kakuta to break his contract and join the English team in 2008. FIFA said it “established that the English club induced the player to such breach.”

FIFA has been trying to impress on clubs and players that contracts must be respected. The ruling body ordered Kakuta and Chelsea to pay Lens $1.12 million. Chelsea must pay Lens an additional $186,000 as a training fee. In addition, the French player is barred from any games worldwide for four months.

“It’s a logical decision,” Lens president Gervais Martel told The Associated Press by telephone. “They stole the lad off us when he was 16. He was at our place since the age of 8½.”

Martel said Kakuta deserved to be punished even though he was not an adult when he broke his contract.

“It’s a good decision, but Lens was not compensated enough,” Martel said. “The player is a gem. He is good enough to play for Chelsea.”

While a ban would restrict new Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti, the club’s recent policy of signing players to long-term contracts provides some protection should its anticipated appeal fail.

AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.