Chelsea defender contests ban

Chelsea’s Serbian defender Slobodan Rajkovic has launched an appeal against his one-year ban from football, imposed after he spat in the direction of a referee at the Olympics.

Rajkovic, who is on a season-long loan at FC Twente in Holland, is due to travel to Zurich on November 10 to present his case to FIFA.

Rajkovic, 19, was seen to spit at referee Abdullah Al Hilali during Serbia’s 2-0 loss to Argentina in Beijing on August 19.

His appeal has the support of Twente.

“We don’t like it at all that the thing has lingered on already for so long,” Twente chairman Joop Munsterman told Voetbal International.

“We could have had Rajkovic for three months already, and we paid a lot of money for him.”

If Rajkovic loses his appeal, he could take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.