FIFA upholds transfer bans for Real Madrid and Atletico

The ban was imposed in January but was later frozen pending Federation Internationale de Football Association committee’s verdict on the appeal.

Atletico and Real have also been fined £696,000 and £278,000 respectively, although Real have already announced that they will appeal against FIFA’s ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

In April 2014, Barcelona were banned from signing players in two successive windows after they also breached rules on the transfer of under-18 players.

Barcelona served a similar ban in 2015, with an appeal to Cas proving unsuccessful in their case. They are expected to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Should any further pleas prove unsuccessful, Real and Atletico will not be able to sign any new players until January 2018.

Real Madrid said in a statement it “lamented” the decision, calling it “unjust”. The player’s parents move to the country for reasons unconnected to soccer; the player transfers between countries in the European Union and is at least 16; or the player lives within 100 kilometers of the club over the border.

The cases against Atletico and Real are understood to relate to up to 50 under-age players signed by the clubs from overseas between 2005 and 2014, and it is believed that current Real manager Zinedine Zidane’s four sons – who are on the books of the European champions – are among them.

Article 19 has gotten clubs into trouble before, including Barcelona, which served its own two transfer window ban previous year for signing underage players.

Talk has simmered about a bumper signing announcement at Real Madrid with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Luca Modric and Toni Kroos all expected to pen new deals.

Under worldwide football rules, players under 18 can not be transferred to another country, except in limited circumstances, and all transfers need the approval of a special Fifa committee.