Ouch, Barca! Fifa hits them hard

dcheather · Apr 2, 2014

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/17721 ... an?cc=5901

Barcelona have been banned from making signings for two consecutive transfer windows after failing to abide by rules governing transfers of players under 18, FIFA announced on Wednesday.

FIFA issued the punishment following an investigation over the course of last year.
FIFA carried out an investigation last year and found the club as well as the Spanish football federation (RFEF) guilty of several violations in relation to rules governing international transfers and registering foreign players.

A statement issued by the world governing body read: “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol (RFEF) and Spanish club FC Barcelona for breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18.

“The investigations concerned several minor players who were registered and participated in competitions with the club over various periods between 2009 and 2013.”

FIFA only permits international youth transfers when one of the three following situations apply: The player’s parents have moved country for their own non-related reasons; The move takes place within the European Union if a player is aged between 16 and 18; The player’s home is less than 50 kilometres from the national border being crossed.

The FIFA statement added: “FC Barcelona has been found to be in breach of art. 19 of the Regulations in the case of 10 minor players and to have committed several other concurrent infringements in the context of other players, including under Annexe 2 of the Regulations.

“The Disciplinary Committee regarded the infringements as serious and decided to sanction the club with a transfer ban at both national and international level for two complete and consecutive transfer periods, together with a fine of CHF 450,000 [$508,000 or 368,000 euros]. Additionally, the club was granted a period of 90 days in which to regularise the situation of all minor players concerned.”

In February 2013, FIFA found that Barca had regularly failed to comply with its transfer regulations and extended a ban to cover six players from Barca's Cadete and Juvenil youth teams. This meant that South Koreans Lee Seung-Woo, Jang Gyeolhee and Paik Seung-Ho, French youngster Theo Chendri, Nigerian-Dutch player Bobby Adekanye and Cameroonian Patrice Sousia were training with their teams but unable to play in competitive games.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter backed the move at the time, saying: “The Barca case will be studied by FIFA's Players' Status Committee, but the rules for the signing of minors are very clear."

Despite Wednesday's ruling, a Barca spokesperson has told AS the club do not expect the ban to come into force this summer.

“We are relaxed,” the spokesperson said. “It is a habitual process in which we have 90 days to explain how we signed these players.”

El Pais reported on Wednesday that club sources have indicated that they will appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, using Chelsea's successful appeal of a ban relating to the Gael Kakuta transfer from Lens as a precedent.

If the punishment is enforced this summer, the ruling could pose serious problems for Barcelona, who are also still contending with the ongoing investigation by a Spanish judge into irregularities in last summer’s signing of Neymar.

Given that both Barcelona's senior goalkeepers, Victor Valdes and Jose Manuel Pinto, are out of contract this summer, the club had been expected to sign at least one replacement, with Borussia Moenchengladbach's Marc Andre ter Stegen rumoured to have already agreed to a move. It has already been suggested that Valdes could yet stay on, but he has been ruled out for the next seven months through injury.

It was also announced last month that captain Carles Puyol would leave at the end of the season and Barca were expected to reinforce their defence, while club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has spoken recently of having 120 million euros to spend in a major squad reorganisation ahead of the 2014-15 campaign.
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Can't get away with that many infringements and expect nothing to happen, or maybe they did? Perhaps they will get away with after all since they can still appeal it.

HatterDon · Apr 2, 2014

They did the same thing to Chelsea a few years back ... and it obviously ruined the club. They haven't done anything since. :shock:

dcheather · Apr 2, 2014

HatterDon said:

They did the same thing to Chelsea a few years back ... and it obviously ruined the club. They haven't done anything since. :shock:
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I know what you're saying, but wasn't the Chelsea case involving one player? I am trying to remember the case but I don't think it was nearly as bad as 10 players over the course of a few years. I wouldn't be surprised if they were being warned and ignored FIFA repeatedly.

AggieMatt · Apr 2, 2014

Did anything ever come of that Chelsea incident? Didn't they appeal and the "suspension" was pushed to the January window? If Barca can do the same, with their financial clout, they could take care of the next year's worth of shopping this summer and there would be no impact.

dcheather · Apr 2, 2014

They were supposed to be banned for 2 years for illegally signing Kakuta from Lens. They appealed and had the ban lifted in Jan, so it only last one transfer window, the contract was found not to be valid. Something similar happened to Roma in 2004 with "defender Philippe Mexes' move from Auxerre. Roma appealed to the CAS and had the ban cut to one transfer window."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/200 ... ael-kakuta

My guess, Barca appeals it takes at least one transfer window for the ban to be lifted.

dcheather · Aug 20, 2014

http://www.espnfc.us/barcelona/story/1994228/fifa-reject-barca-appeal-over-transfer-ban

Barcelona will be unable to sign any players in 2015 after FIFA rejected the club's appeal against their punishment for repeatedly breaking youth transfer regulations.

Barcelona were banned by FIFA in April from signing any players for two consecutive transfer windows after being found guilty of breaching regulations which are in place to avoid the exploitation and trafficking of young players.

FIFA agreed to suspend the measure pending an appeal, and the Catalan club have been busy during the current transfer window spending over 150 million euros on Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Marc Andre Ter-Stegen, Claudio Bravo, Thomas Vermaelen, Alen Halilovic and Jeremy Mathieu.

Despite Barca issuing a statement on Wednesday morning to confirm they had met with FIFA in Zurich and that the process was ongoing, world football's governing body has now thrown out their claim.

Barcelona immediately signalled their intention to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a final bid to get the ban overturned. In February 2010, Chelsea had their transfer ban been lifted by CAS and the club were cleared of any wrongdoing regarding the transfer of teenage Frenchman Gael Kakuta from Ligue 1 club Lens in July 2007.

Barcelona will be able to sign players up to the end of the summer transfer window on Sept. 1 before the ban comes into force in January and extends throughout next summer. Barca will not be able to add to their squad again until January 2016.

A statement on FIFA's official website read: "The FIFA Appeal Committee has decided to reject the appeals lodged by Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF) and to confirm in their entirety the decisions rendered by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee in the respective cases relating to the protection of minors.

"As such, FC Barcelona is to serve a transfer ban which will see the club prevented from registering any players at both national and international level for two complete and consecutive transfer periods, starting with the next registration period (January 2015) given that the appeal of the club had been granted suspensive effect by the chairman of the FIFA Appeal Committee.

"FC Barcelona has also been ordered to pay a fine of CHF 450,000 (300,000 pounds) and been given a period of 90 days from today in which to regularise the situation of all minor players concerned.

"Meanwhile, the RFEF has been ordered to pay a fine of CHF 500,000 (330,000 pounds) and granted a period of one year in which to regularise their regulatory framework and existing system concerning the international transfer of minors in football."

Marc Andre Ter-Stegen was brought in from Borussia Monchengladbach.

According to AS, Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu was not present at the meeting with FIFA, with the delegation formed by La Masia director Carles Folguera, two youth players currently at the academy, and the director of the Leon XIII school which is attended by all youngsters at the club. Atletico Madrid director Clemente Villaverde also reportedly attended to help argue Barca's case.

Barca's argument for overturning the ban was not thought to be based on denying that FIFA's strict rules were broken. Instead the club asked to be viewed as an exception given their excellent facilities and reputation for developing well-rounded young players.

Only hours before Tuesday's meeting took place, Blaugrana sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta told reporters at Suarez's media presentation that he was confident the ban would be lifted.

"What we want is to explain [to FIFA] that the only intention of the club is to form the person to become a footballer," Zubizarreta said. "And I believe we are a reference point in this aspect."
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AggieMatt · Aug 20, 2014

Ouch in the sense that clubs like Barca usually get off the hook completely. But they've had a window to stockpile for that year, so I don't know that they'll really feel it.

jumpkutz · Aug 21, 2014

But they're appealing to the almighty Court Of Arbitration For Sport! Whatdya' think'll happen there?

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Ouch, Barca! Fifa hits them hard

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Ouch, Barca! Fifa hits them hard

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