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FIFA have imposed a transfer ban on Chelsea until January 2011.

The punishment was laid down by football's world governing body after the club was found guilty of allegedly attempting to induce Gael Kakuta to break his contract with Lens in 2007.

A Fifa statement said that Chelsea would be unable to register any new players during the next two transfer windows.

In a statement, Chelsea responded that they will "mount the strongest appeal possible", saying the sanctions were "totally disproportionate to the alleged offence", adding "We cannot comment further until we receive the full written rationale for this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."

Fifa's dispute resolution chamber (DRC) also ruled that Kakuta must also pay compensation of 780,000 euros (£682,000), for which Chelsea are "jointly and severally liable". This effectively means that is Kakuta fails to pay compensation, Chelsea will have to stump up the cash on his behalf.

Lens president Gervais Martel said "We expected this kind of decision. The player was under contract with us and they came and stole him away from us,", adding that he felt the judgement was fair and would send out a warning message to any clubs breaking the rules.