Chelsea’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the Transfer Ban handed down by FIFA (that would have seen the London based club unable to sign any players until 2011) has been accepted until a final decision can be made around the early spring of 2010.

Via Guardian 

It is expected that the final decision will be reached in early spring, meaning Chelsea will be clear to do business in January.

Fifa banned the Stamford Bridge club from any transfer activity for the next two windows in early September after Chelsea were found guilty of inducing teenager Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with the French club Lens.

Chelsea appealed to CAS against the punishment and, as part of their appeal, requested the transfer ban be “stayed” until the case had been dealt with.

A statement from CAS today read: “The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has granted the request for a stay filed by Chelsea Football Club Ltd and Mr Gaël Kakuta in relation to the decision taken by the Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber on 27 August 2009.

“The Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed, inter alia, a restriction of four months’ ineligibility on Mr Gaël Kakuta, and Chelsea Football Club Ltd was banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the next two complete, consecutive registration periods. Such sanctions are now stayed until the CAS renders its final decision in this matter.”

CAS is not expected to hear the case until the new year, which should leave Chelsea free to buy and sell as normal in January.