PARIS: Chelsea have been fined and hit with a ban on registering players until January 2011 by world football’s ruling body FIFA as punishment for their role in a contractual dispute.

The sanction follows a decision by FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC), which met on August 27 to rule on a contractual dispute opposing French club Lens to French player Gael Kakuta and Chelsea. The DRC found Kakuta guilty of breach of contract and also found Chelsea guilty of inducing the player to break his contract with the French club, which had lodged a claim with FIFA seeking compensation and demanding sporting sanctions both on the player and Chelsea.

A statement from FIFA said the DRC “found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club”. “Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that Chelsea induced the player to such a breach.” As well as paying 780,000 euros to Lens, for which Chelsea are jointly liable, Kakuta has been effectively banned from playing in official matches for four months.