FIFA Rejects Barca Appeal

Barcelona will be unable to sign any players in 2015 after FIFA rejected the club’s appeal against their punishment for repeatedly breaking youth transfer regulations.

Barcelona were banned by FIFA last April from signing any players for two consecutive transfer windows after being found guilty of breaching regulations which are in place to avoid the exploitation and trafficking of young players.

FIFA agreed to suspend the measure pending an appeal, and the Catalan club have been busy during the current transfer window spending more than £120 million on Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Marc Andre Ter-Stegen, Claudio Bravo, Thomas Vermaelen, Alen Halilovic and Jeremy Mathieu.

Despite Barcelona issuing a statement yesterday to confirm they had met with FIFA in Zurich and that the process was ongoing, FIFA has come out to reject their claim. —