Chelsea transfer ban cut by CAS, club free to sign players in Jan

Chelsea are free to sign new players in the January transfer window after a FIFA-imposed ban was reduced on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday.

The ban, imposed following violations in the recruitment of minors, was reduced from two transfer windows to one, which Chelsea already served in the summer.

A fine was also reduced from 600,000 Swiss francs ($607,000; £462,000) to half that amount by the Lausanne-based court.

A CAS statement said that Chelsea were guilty of violating rules related to the international transfer and registration of minors, "but for a significantly smaller number of players", concluding that they were only guilty of one third of the violations found by FIFA.

In addition, the breaches of other transfer rules "were found to be less serious than those attributed to Chelsea FC by FIFA".