The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has dismissed FC Barcelona’s appeal against a transfer ban for breaking rules on signing teenage minors.
This means the Catalans cannot buy players in 2015 in line with the 14-month transfer ban issued by world football’s governing body Fifa after being found guilty of breaching rules on transfer of international players under the age of 18.
Barca were allowed to sign the likes of Luis Suarez, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and several others in the summer because of the pending appeal to Cas in the wake of another previously rejected appeal with the Fifa Appeals Commission.
Barcelona has in the meantime said it “disagrees with the verdict of the Cas,” saying the underlying offence “are, in all cases, of an administrative nature and to a large extent caused by the existing conflict between the FIFA regulations and Spanish legislation, along with the Club’s conviction that it was acting correctly.”
The players concerned in the Fifa rule breach were registered and participated in competitions with the Spanish La Liga outfit between 2009 and 2013.
Cas said: “The appeal found in particular that FC Barcelona had breached the rules regarding the protection of minors and the registration of minors attending football academies.
“Accordingly, the Fifa decision is confirmed in full and the sanction remains in force.
“In view of the need to issue a decision before the opening of the next transfer window, the panel has issued its decision without the grounds. The full arbitral award with the reasons for the panel’s decision, will be issued as soon as possible.”
Barcelona added: “FC Barcelona considers the sanction to be completely disproportionate as it supposes an excessive punishment for the Club, when considering its trajectory and the circumstances of this specific case.
“In this regard, where the judicial grounds for the CAS decision are announced, the Club shall proceed by studying and evaluating the different legal options available, among others the possibility of appealing against the CAS arbitration to the Swiss Federal Courts.”
