LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -The Court of Arbitration for Sport has suspended Chelsea's transfer ban until it can reach a final decision on the club's appeal.

Advertisement

The court's decision Friday almost certainly frees Chelsea to acquire players when the international transfer market reopens in January.

FIFA had banned the Premier League club from signing players for the next two transfer windows for breaking rules in acquiring French teenager Gael Kakuta from Lens in 2007. Chelsea appealed to CAS against the FIFA ruling that cut the London club out of the market until January 2011.

CAS did not say when it expected to reach a final decision. It could take several weeks to arrange an appeal hearing and several more for the panel of arbitrators to reach a verdict.