C+P BBC

Chelsea's transfer ban has been suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) pending a final review.

Fifa had ruled the club could not sign players until 2011 after inducing Gael Kakuta to break his Lens contract.

But Chelsea appealed to Cas, which said on Friday: "Such sanctions are now stayed until a final decision."

The decision means Chelsea can sign players in January, though manager Carlo Ancelotti stated he is happy with the players currently at his disposal.

"Now, thanks to this decision we have time to look for new players," said Ancelotti, who will lose Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and John Mikel Obi to the African Nations Cup in January.

"We don't want to take a decision in this moment. At the moment, I'm very happy with the squad, these players, and it's not necessary at the moment to take new players.

"I know we will lose four in January but if we maintain the players' fitness we can do a good period also without the African players.

"Now our focus is on the game on Sunday. We can buy players in January, but now we have other questions to answer. It's not important now what we can do in January."

No date has been given for a final decision from Cas but the case is not expected to be concluded until spring of next year.

Fifa had banned the Premier League leaders in September from any activity during the next two transfer windows after they were found guilty of inducing Kakuta, now aged 18, to breach his contract with French club Lens in 2007.

Under the terms of the original Fifa punishment, French teenager Kakuta was ordered to pay compensation of 780,000 euros (£710,000), for which Chelsea were "jointly and severally liable".

Chelsea were also told to pay Lens "training compensation" of 130,000 euros (£118,000).