UPDATE 1-Soccer-FIFA deny Chelsea request to freeze one-year transfer ban

Chelsea said on Friday they were "astonished" their request to freeze their one-year transfer ban handed out by FIFA has been denied after similar requests in the past led to a suspension of the sanction.

FIFA confirmed on Tuesday that the English Premier League side had appealed against the ban, which it imposed after judging that Chelsea had breached rules on overseas players under the age of 18. "We can confirm that the chairman of the FIFA Appeal Committee has rejected the application for provisional measures filed by Chelsea FC in relation to the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee," a FIFA spokesperson said earlier on Friday.

Chelsea said they have notified FIFA of their intention to appeal against FIFA's decision and the 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," Chelsea said in a statement on their website https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/03/08/club-statement-.

"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."

Chelsea may still take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as other clubs have done in the past. The ban forbids the club, which has denied any wrongdoing, from registering new players in the close season and in the January transfer window in 2020. (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Christian Radnedge)

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