Barcelona Transfer Ban Upheld By Court Of Arbitration For Sport

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected Barcelona’s appeal of FIFA’s 14-month transfer ban, which means the Catalan club will not be allowed to sign players until January 2016.

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by FC Barcelona against the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) regarding the decision issued by the FIFA appeals committee on 19 August 2014,” a statement from CAS read.

“In such decision, the Spanish football club was sanctioned with a transfer ban for two periods, a fine of CHF 450,000 and a reprimand after it was found to have infringed the FIFA regulations with respect to the registration of a number of minor players.”

In April, following a FIFA investigation centered on several players who were registered and played between 2009 and 2013, Barcelona and the Spanish football federation were found guilty of a serious infringement of the rules in relation to ten players.

FIFA fined Barcelona and barred the club from making transfers for the next two transfer windows. The Catalan club appealed that decision and the embargo was temporarily suspended while FIFA heard their case.

During that time, Barcelona were able to sign Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen – to name a few – before FIFA ultimately upheld the decision to bar the club for two transfer windows.

Barcelona then took its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a last ditch effort to see the decision from world football’s governing body lessened or overturned.

In the club’s most recent appeal, they are believed to have admitted to “inconsistencies” with their youth transfers during the time period in question. But Barcelona believed the FIFA-imposed ban was excessive and wanted their transfer embargo reduced to removed completely.

Today’s decision means the La Liga club will not be able to sign players during the upcoming January and summer transfer windows.