Barcelona to appeal to CAS against FIFA ban

Madrid: Spanish football giant Barcelona confirmed that they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) after FIFA upheld its decision to ban the club from signing for the next two transfer windows for irregularities over the signing of underage players.

FIFA's decision on Wednesday means that Barcelona will not be able to buy anyone this coming January or in the summer of 2015 as a punishment for breaches of FIFA regulations over the signing of several under-18 players for the club's youth system, reports Xinhua.

FIFA had originally made its decision in April and the transfer embargo was to have come into effect for this summer as well, only to put it on hold when Barcelona appealed. That appeal was rejected by FIFA Wednesday.

"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," said FIFA in a communique.

FIFA also confirmed a fine of 450,000 Swiss Francs for the club and a further fine of 500,000 Swiss Francs for the Spanish Football Federation, whom have been told to "regularise the regulatory framework".

Barcelona rapidly said they did not accept the verdict and that the club would appeal to the CAS.

"Following the resolution announced by the FIFA Appeals Committee on violations of regulations regarding the transfer and registration of children aged under 18 years, FC Barcelona announces that it shall continue defending its interests before the highest sporting authority, in this case the CAS," said the club, defending a youth system which currently contains youngsters from 18 different countries.

"FC Barcelona may not in any way share a resolution that is an affront to the spirit of our Masia (youth system), a world renowned example of academic, human and sporting education," said the club.

Perhaps in anticipation of the ban, Barcelona have already made six signings for the first team this summer and have not ruled out further arrivals before the end of August.