West Ham to appeal to CAS over Tevez ruling

Premier League club West Ham United will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after being ordered to pay compensation to Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair.

An English FA arbitration panel ruled in favour of Sheffield United on Tuesday after they argued that Tevez, now with Manchester United, was ineligible to play for West Ham at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Tevez was one of West Ham's most influential players as they put together a storming finish to the season to escape relegation and send Sheffield Utd down on the final day.

The Yorkshire club appealed to the League claiming that Tevez, and his fellow Argentine Javier Mascherano were ineligible to play for West Ham under league rules regarding third-party ownership. West Ham were subsequently fined a record 5.5 million pounds in April last year for fielding the players during the season but escaped a points deduction that would have almost certainly relegated them.

Tevez was cleared to play for the remainder of the season after West Ham said they had torn up the third-party agreement with the player's adviser Kia Joorabchian. He scored the winner against Man. United on the final day of the season.

Sheffield United estimated that relegation from the Premier League had cost them at least 50 million pounds.

Tuesday's FA arbitration panel ruling did not say how much West Ham would have to pay in compensation, although a figure of 30 million pounds was widely reported.