Blues can turn to Court of Arbitration for Sport to grant interim ruling but it is highly unlikely they will go against Fifa's decision
CHELSEA admit they are "astonished" after Fifa ruled their transfer ban cannot be delayed pending the club’s appeal.
And it leaves the club in a huge summer quandary over Eden Hazard, Callum Hudson-Odoi and other top stars who might want to quit.
The Blues were hit by a two-window ban last week after being found guilty of 29 breaches of regulations over transferring minors.
Stamford Bridge chiefs had expected to be able to put the punishment on hold pending their appeal to Fifa and any subsequent decision to ask the Court of Arbitration for Sport to give a final ruling.
That would have allowed the club to undertake a potential £200million summer refit and spend any money generated for the sale of Belgian ace Hazard, who could go for nothing in 2020 if he runs down the final year of his Blues contract.
Chelsea believed the fact that the previous three similar cases, involving Spanish giants Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico, had seen their bans put on hold during the appeal process, had set a precedent.
But as SunSport revealed, the decision was solely in the hands of former Swedish Justice Minister Thomas Bodstrom - a former pot-smoking TV star and Uma Thurman's old lawyer - who was only appointed to his role as head of the Fifa appeals committee in May 2017 and was not involved in the previous cases.
A Fifa spokesperson, who made clear that the final decision was down to Bodstrom, told SunSport: “As a general rule we do not make comparisons with previous cases”.
Chelsea put in the paperwork for their appeal earlier this week but their growing fears have been realised after Fifa announced: “We can confirm that the Chairman of the Fifa Appeal Committee has rejected the application for provisional measures filed by Chelsea in relation to the decision of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee."
The Blues have accused Fifa of treating their case unfairly following the previous rulings over both Madrid clubs and Barca.
A Chelsea statement read: "Chelsea Football Club is astonished by the FIFA Appeal Committee’s decision not to suspend its sanction pending completion of the appeal process.
"The club acted in accordance with the relevant regulations and has already notified FIFA of its intention to appeal against the Disciplinary Committee’s decision and sanction. As a matter of procedural fairness and equality of treatment, and Swiss law, the Club’s right to an appeal process must be afforded, before any irremediable sanction takes effect.
"So far as the Club is aware, in all previous cases where a registration ban has been imposed by FIFA, a decision has also been made to suspend the sanction until the appeal process has been completed. In this case, Chelsea considers that it is being treated inconsistently in comparison with other European clubs.
"We will consider our next steps once we have received the written reasons for this decision from FIFA. The Club notes the Appeal Committee’s statement that it has the right to appeal to CAS. In the meantime the Club will continue to fully cooperate with the proceedings."
Chelsea have the right to ask CAS to impose a temporary hold on the punishment while the appeal process is ongoing.
But Fifa Article 124, which relates to appeals against disciplinary findings, states: “The appeal does not have a suspensive effect except with regard to orders to pay a sum of money.”
Given the clear wording of Article 124 it will be hard for Chelsea to argue that Fifa have broken their own regulations.
And if any plea to CAS fails to bear fruit it will leave the Blues facing a nightmare of losing stars and not being able to spend the money or effectively keeping players against their will and risk them taking measures into their own hands by running contracts down.
