Chelsea were cleared to sign new players in the January transfer window today after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) suspended a ban imposed by world body FIFA.

The English Premier League leaders had asked for a stay until the result of an appeal was decided.

The court said in a statement that they had granted the request, with the sanctions suspended "until the CAS renders its final decision in this matter." No date was given for the decision.

Chelsea were banned from registering any new players, nationally or internationally, until January 2011 after being found guilty in September of inducing Gael Kakuta to break his contract with French club Racing Lens.

The punishment was handed out following a contractual dispute involving the transfer of reserve team player Kakuta, now 18, from Lens in 2007.

Midfielder Kakuta had been at Lens since he was eight, going through their schooling system. A France Under-19 international, he has been hampered by injury and made only five Chelsea youth team appearances last season and two for the reserves.

The West London club have slammed the FIFA ban as "extraordinarily arbitrary" and "totally disproportionate", and have promised to mount the strongest possible appeal.