GENEVA — Sport's highest court of appeal has ordered Adrian Mutu to pay his former Chelsea team $24.2 million compensation Friday after the Blues fired him for using cocaine.

The ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is a stunning defeat for the Romania striker, who appealed a FIFA decision last year that awarded Chelsea the record sum in damages for a soccer dispute.

The CAS panel of three lawyers dismissed Mutu's appeal after finding that he had breached his contract.

Mutu was fired in October 2004 after testing positive for cocaine, and was banned from soccer for seven months.

Chelsea had paid 15 million pounds (now $24.7 million) to sign Mutu from Parma in 2003. But it got nothing when Mutu joined Juventus as a free agent after serving his ban.

Mutu plays for Fiorentina in Italy. A Romanian TV station reported Mutu is worth between $18-20 million and the payment would bankrupt him.