Sanctions against English Premier League side Chelsea have been lifted following a decision by the Court of Arbitration of Sport.

Football's governing body FIFA imposed sanctions against the London side last September after it ruled that Chelsea had wrongfully induced Gael Kakuta to break his contract with Sporting Lens, a French team.
 

The sanctions included a 16-month transfer ban on Chelsea and a four-month ban from competitive matches for Mr Kakuta. He was also ordered to pay 780,000 euros compensation to Sporting Lens. Chelsea appealed against FIFA's ruling and took the case to CAS.
 

The Lausanne court said today that the two clubs and FIFA had agreed that the contract tying Mr Kakuta to Lens was not valid and therefore Chelsea could not be liable for inducing him to breach his contract.