Fifa Bans Atlético And Real Madrid From Signing Players

BEVERLY HILLS, January 14, (THEWILL) – The world football governing body, FIFA, has banned Spanish clubs Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid from signing new players in the next two transfer windows.

According to a statement from the FIFA media office on Thursday, the cubs were guilty of breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18.

“The two clubs were found to have violated several provisions concerning the international transfer and first registration of minor players,” the statement read.

“This is for breaching articles 5, 9, 19 and 19b, as well as annexes 2 and 3 of the regulations on the status and transfer of players.

“They also violated other relevant provisions with regard to the registration and participation of certain players in competitions.”

The transfer ban, which does not affect the current registration period at all, given that it opened before the decisions were notified, applies to each club as a whole.

The ban will however prevent them from registering any player at national and international level for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods.

There is however the exception of their women's, futsal and beach soccer teams, and it does not prevent the release of players.

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The decisions, which were notified to the parties concerned on Thursday, were made based on the specific elements of each case.

They followed investigations initially conducted by FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH (FIFA TMS) and subsequently by the FIFA disciplinary committee as part of disciplinary proceedings.

The investigations concerned minor players who were involved and participated in competitions with the clubs over various periods between 2007 and 2014 for Atlético Madrid and between 2005 and 2014 for Real Madrid.

Story by David Oputah