FIFA uphold transfer ban on Barcelona

Spanish giants Barcelona have been barred from signing any new players until January 2016, once the current transfer season ends, after FIFA rejected the club’s plea against the transfer ban.

The world governing body of football had imposed a 14-month ban on the Catalan club in April this year, after they were found guilty of breaching the policies related to the signing of international players below the age of 18 years.

The La Liga club had appealed against it and the ban was then suspended, allowing them to participate in the summer transfer window.

During this time, Barcelona brought in Luis Suarez from Liverpool, Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal, Jeremy Mathieu from Valencia, Ivan Rakitic from Sevilla, Marc-Andre ter Stegen from Borussia Monchengladbach and Claudio Bravo from Real Sociedad.

The ban will come into effect when the winter transfer window opens early next year but they can still bring in new players before the current window closes on August 31, and the club will now be hoping to make the best of these last few days.

In a statement released today, the Blaugrana confirmed that they would take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.