Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid received Federation Internationale de Football Association transfer ban

The FIFA statement added: “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)”.

The Spanish clubs have denied doing anything wrong and said they will appeal FIFA’s bans.

Real Madrid and Atletico were punished for breaching rules registering youngsters, and have been prevented from signing players in the next two transfer windows. served a similar ban in 2015 for the same reasons. Both teams have also been fined, with Atlético stung by a 900,000 Swiss franc (£622,000; $895,000) fine and Real given a 360,000 Swiss franc (£249,000: $358,000) bill. The ban does not cover the current January transfer window.

Another Spanish club, FC Barcelona, has just finished serving such ban this January.

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane says Federation Internationale de Football Association had made an “absurd” decision in barring the club from registering new players until July 2017.

Real’s great rivals Barcelona, standing second in La Liga, were handed the same penalty in April 2014 for also breaching rules on the transfer of under-18 players.

“The conduct of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have been always in favour of the respect, the interest, and the training of the child”.

Madrid must lodge an appeal with Fifa’s appeals committee and if they are unsuccessful can then take their case to CAS.

Real, with new coach Zidane just over a week into the job, are unlikely to offload players but could use their considerable financial muscle to bolster their ranks.

They can still sell players during the transfer ban.

He’s been doing the rounds on Spanish radio, bigging up his insider credentials, and insisting he knows for a fact that several Premier League clubs are ALREADY being investigated for their dealings with players under the age of 18.

Neither team were reported to be bringing any new signings this winter but if these bans are upheld the two clubs will likely scramble to make a few transfers before the window closes on February 1. But the Catalan club was able to stall the ban long enough through appeals that it was active in the 2014 summer transfer market.