By Mark Baber
November 30 – In a report that will be music to the ears of supporters of many clubs, leading European clubs including Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and others may face a FIFA transfer ban.
The report in Spain’s AS suggests that FIFA has already decided to move against clubs who have been investigated over the signing of minors from abroad. Indeed, the paper suggests Claudio Sulser, chairman of FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee, decided to impose two season bans on some clubs in September, but the decision is yet to be announced.
Spanish media have been reporting since April 2015 that Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid were due to be punished by FIFA for breaches of the FIFA regulations on transfers of minors which were designed to prevent child trafficking, saying the two Madrid clubs apparently broke the same rules as Barcelona.
Insideworldfootball revealed in February 2013, that Barcelona were bringing children from around the globe to their training facility in Spain, often without their parents and in defiance of FIFA regulations. In April 2014 Barcelona finally received a transfer ban at both national and international level for two complete and consecutive transfer periods. The club launched an appeal which was finally rejected by the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS), but not before the club had time to purchase players to mitigate the effects of the ban.
Barcelona’s ban will expire this January. There has to be considerable scepticism over the latest reports, particularly as in April this year, Spanish media suggested the two Madrid clubs had already having been informed they were going to have transfer bans imposed. Although the AS report is being widely disseminated through the media, it is the first to directly implicate clubs outside Spain in the transfer scandal.
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