Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid to serve transfer ban

Spanish giants Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will not be able to register any new players until January 2018, after they lost appeals against a one-year transfer ban by FIFA for breaching rules over the transfer of under 18 players.

FIFA’s appeals committee dismissed both clubs’ appeals after they were given transfer embargoes in January. The appeals meant that the bans were later frozen, and the clubs could sign players this summer. Now the two Madrid clubs have been banned from registering new players until January 2018.

They can make deals with other clubs to sign players, but cannot register them to play. In addition, Atletico were told to pay £622,000, while Real Madrid were given a £249,000 fine.

In a statement, FIFA said, “The FIFA Appeal Committee has decided to reject the appeals lodged by Spanish clubs Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid and to confirm in their entirety the decisions rendered by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee in the respective cases relating to the protection of minors.”

The clubs have denied any wrongdoing whatsoever. Both Real and Atletico have announced that they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Real Madrid ‘lamented’ the decision, and called it ‘unfair’. While Atletico said that all their players’ licences have been authorized by FIFA.

This summer Real signed Alvaro Morata from Juventus. While Atletico’s new arrivals included Kevin Gameiro, Nicolas Gaitan and Sime Vrsaljko. FC Barcelona were also given a similar two-window ban in 2014. During their ban, Barcelona signed Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal, but they only made their debuts after their registration in 2016.

FIFA rules block the transfer of under-18 players to different countries, unless a strict criteria is met. This is because many European clubs sign young overseas talent, only to release them a long way from home, if they fail to make the grade.