Barca to appeal FIFA transfer ban

Spanish champions Barcelona will appeal a ban on trading players for bringing foreign athletes younger than 18 to the academy that trained four-time Player of the Year Lionel Messi.
Barcelona were also fined 450,000 Swiss francs (S$640,000) for the offences involving 10 minors, soccer’s Zurich-based ruling body FIFA said yesterday in a statement. The Spanish Football Federation, which authorised the registration of foreign minors, was fined 500,000 Swiss francs.

The player transfer ban applies to the next two transfer windows. The infractions happened between 2009 and last year, and Barcelona will ask FIFA not to implement the ban until after the club appeals against the punishment.
In a statement, the club said they “will be presenting the corresponding appeal to FIFA and, should it be necessary, take the resulting resolution to the Court of Arbitration for Sport”.
Under FIFA rules, clubs can only field minors from another continent if their parents are living in the same country for reasons not linked to football. In February last year, FIFA ordered Barcelona to stop fielding six foreign players under the age of 18, including South Korean Lee Seung-woo and Cameroonian Patrice Sousia.
The six were at Barcelona’s La Masia academy that provides education, accommodation and coaching.
Barcelona have 90 days to regularise the situation and the Spanish federation has a year to change how it handles the transfer of minors, FIFA said.
About one-third of the 72 children at the Barcelona academy are foreigners, with Messi one of its most famous graduates.