Barcelona // Fifa hit Barcelona with a 14-month transfer ban yesterday for breaching rules on the transfer of players under age 18.
News of the ban was met with surprise and incredulity in Catalonia, and not only in the sports press where transfer speculation is their stock in trade.
A Fifa statement said: “FC Barcelona has been found to be in breach of article 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.
“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 450,000 Swiss francs (Dh1.86 million).”
Sanctions also were imposed on the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for the same breaches, a Fifa investigation finding it guilty of a “serious” infringement of the rules in the transfers of 10 players between 2009 and 2013. The identity of the players is confidential.
It is a serious blow to Barcelona, coming so soon after allegations of tax evasion by the club around the €57m (Dh236m) Neymar transfer deal, which in January led to the resignation of Sandro Rosell, the club president.
He was accused of misappropriating club funds, and a criminal investigation is under way, despite Barcelona offering to make a “voluntary contribution” of €13m in back taxes.
Before Barcelona made an official statement about the ban, a source at the club told The National: “We’re calm about the situation. It’s a normal procedure and we now have 90 days to appeal and explain our side of the story.” Sports lawyers were seen entering the club’s offices yesterday.
If the ban stands, the timing is awful for Barcelona, who will see goalkeeper Victor Valdes and long-time captain Carlos Puyol leave at the end of the season. Barca have lined up replacements, including a €12m deal for Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, 21, plus the rising Croatian star Alen Halilovic, 17, who is dubbed as the latest new Messi.
In a statement, Fifa, which took 12 months to investigate the club, added that the RFEF need to “regularise its regulatory framework and existing system concerning the transfer of minors in football” within a year.
Fifa rules state that players under 18 can move to a club in a different country under one of only three qualifying criteria: they must live within 100 kilometres of the club, their parents move to the country for non-footballing reasons or they are from the European Union and are between ages 16 and 18.
Loaned players, like Everton’s Gerard Deulofeu, may return.
Barcelona may plead innocence but their reputation continues to be tarnished. The Catalan club have been as successful in recruiting global sponsors as they have been in promoting young players, but that image will be soured if the players have been recruited illegally.
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