By Andrew Warshaw
November 15 – FIFA is reported to be investigating five Premier League clubs over possible violations of rules covering the signing of foreign players under the age of 18.
If found guilty, according to several British newspapers, all five risk transfer bans.
The probe was first reported by the French investigative website Mediapart which claims FIFA’s Integrity and Compliance unit has internally proposed a two-year transfer ban on Chelsea stretching across four windows.
Mediapart are one of several media outlets who have been publishing documents obtained by Football Leaks.
It is not the first time FIFA have been reported to be investigating Chelsea over possible breaches surrounding signing under-age players. Over a year ago FIFA confirmed they were probing the cash-rich London club for the third time in eight years over recruiting minors from overseas – the first English club to face such action.
FIFA banned Chelsea from signing players for two transfer windows in September 2009 due to Gael Kakuta’s 2007 move from Lens, a decision which Chelsea successfully appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
In January of this year, it was reported that the compliance unit of FIFA’s transfer matching system (TMS) had flagged up some 25 cases in which it thought Chelsea might have transgressed.
Players under-18 cannot be signed from abroad unless their parents have emigrated for non-footballing reasons or if both player and club are based within 50km of a national border. The only exception is if the player is from a European Union or European Economic Area country.
The latest reports are said to include the allegation Chelsea broke the rules by signing Bertrand Traore, the Burkina Faso forward who now plays for Lyon. He officially signed for Chelsea on January 1, 2014 – the first day of the first transfer window following his 18th birthday. However, reports claim FIFA are believed to have learned that Traore had actually played for Chelsea’s Under-18s when he was still just 16.
The other four clubs apparently cited by FIFA have not been identified and in a statement Chelsea insisted: “The club has fully co-operated with FIFA and has provided comprehensive evidence demonstrating its compliance with the applicable FIFA regulations. We will not comment further on speculation concerning confidential contracts or player related matters.”
In its own statement, FIFA said it had not yet reached any decisions.
“As communicated in September 2017, investigations were opened concerning Chelsea FC as well as other English clubs in relation to potential breaches of the regulations on the status and transfer of players,” FIFA said.
“The proceedings are ongoing and, to date, no decision has been passed by the FIFA judicial bodies. Thus, the clubs are to be presumed innocent unless decided otherwise. No further information can be provided as the cases are ongoing.”
There are, however, a number of precedents. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have also been found guilty in recent years of unlawfully signing minors, with Atlético and Barcelona having received a two-year transfer ban and Real’s similar punishment halved.
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