Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid banned form registering new players

However, the ban does not come into effect immediately and the Spanish giants can still sign players this month- which they’re likely to do in order to prepare for two windows without new faces.

However, Cerezo is confident the club will not suffer any major repercussions as a result of the punishment, while insisting he is determined to prove the current La Liga leader’s innocence.

“The investigations concerned minor players who were involved and participated in competitions with the clubs over various periods between 2007 and 2014 (Atletico Madrid) and between 2005 and 2014 (Real Madrid)”, Fifa said.

The prospect of a Premier League return for Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale appears to have receded after Real Madrid were hit with a transfer ban by Federation Internationale de Football Association.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has rejected suggestions that goalkeeper David de Gea could join Real Madrid this month.

“While the precise dealings that Real and Atletico have been sanctioned for have not yet been revealed, they have both strongly rejected FIFA’s claims and intimated that they will appeal the bans”. In the summer of 2014, the teams’ big Spanish rival FC Barcelona was handed an nearly identical ban, after also breaking FIFA’s rules about signing players under the age of 18.

Atletico Madrid said it “does not agree with the sanctioning ruling from the global football body and is studying the documentation received to lodge an appeal”. The club reiterated that it has always had the utmost concern to guarantee the healthy development of its young players, and noted that even the sons of former player and current coach Zinedine Zidane are part of its youth squads.

Diego Simeone did not have the intention to leave Atletico in the summer and the plan is to take Atletico to the new stadium which will be sometime in 2017, after that maybe he will leave.

The sanction also does not prevent the clubs from selling players during the two transfer windows in which they are not allowed to register players. “But in reality there are cases against many other clubs”.

“I don’t think Atletico will be very harmed by this ban because they signed a lot of players previous year and this window is still open”.