Barcelona transfer ban appeal rejected by Court

The Spanish club was handed a 14 month ban in April after being found guilty of breaching Fifa’s rules on the transfer of players aged under 18.

FIFA rejected an appeal in August but the pending appeal to Cas allowed Barca to sign players including Luis Suarez.

Barcelona has expressed its “utter nonconformity with the resolution”.

The players concerned in the infringement of Fifa rules were registered and participated in competitions with Barcelona between 2009 and 2013.

Cas said: “The panel found in particular that FC Barcelona had breached the rules regarding the protection of minors and the registration of minors attending football academies.

“Accordingly, the Fifa decision is confirmed in full and the sanction remains in force.

“In view of the need to issue a decision before the opening of the next transfer window, the panel has issued its decision without the grounds. The full arbitral award, with the reasons for the panel’s decision, will be issued as soon as possible.”

A Barcelona statement added: “The errors that the club might have committed, and which have been recognised and argued before the corresponding authorities, are, in all cases, of an administrative nature and to a large extent have been caused by the existing conflict between the Fifa regulations and Spanish legislation, along with the club’s conviction that it was acting correctly.

Source: BBC News