The FIFA Appeal Committee chaired by current Bermuda Football Association President Larry Mussenden has decided to reject the appeals lodged by Spanish clubs Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid 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, both clubs are to serve a transfer ban that prevents them from registering any players at national and international level for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods for breaching articles 5, 9, 19 and 19bis as well as annexes 2 and 3 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (the “Regulations”). The transfer ban applies to each club as a whole – with the exception of the women’s, futsal and beach soccer teams – and does not prevent the release of players.
The grounds of the decisions taken by the FIFA Appeal Committee were communicated to the parties concerned today.
Atletico were fined over $699,000, while Real were told to pay over $280,000.
The next two transfer windows are in January 2017 and the summer of the same year. It means the clubs will not be able to register new players until 2018.
FIFA bans the transfer of under-18s to different countries unless they meet strict criteria. It brought in the rules to help protect children from exploitation and trafficking.
The governing body said: "While international transfers might be favourable to a young player's sporting career, they are likely to be contrary to the best interests of the vast majority of players as minors.
"In the past, the trafficking of young players to clubs, mainly in Europe, by unscrupulous persons led to some minors, whose talent may not have met the expectations of the respective clubs, being virtually abandoned on the streets in foreign countries."
Now, under-18s can only be transferred abroad if:
•the player's parents move to the country in which the new club is located for non-footballing reasons
•both clubs are in the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) and the player is aged between 16 and 18 - even then the buying club must meet more criteria relating to education, training, living conditions and support
•they live within 100km of the club.
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