The Sports Arbitration Court, located in Lausanne, officially informed that the appeal of the "Barcelona" club regarding the one-year ban on buying football players will be examined on December 5th.
According to the announcement, the final decision should be made by the end of this year.
The Catalan club brought FIFA's wrath upon itself when it became clear that "Barcelona" may have violated the current rules by acquiring and registering ten players who were minors at the time of the transactions, meaning they were under 18 years old.
In the spring, it was announced that the Catalan club would not be able to register new football players for one year - i.e., two transfer windows, in the summer of 2014 and January 2015. However, on April 2nd, Barcelona appealed this decision, so the implementation of sanctions was postponed while the arguments presented were being reviewed.
Barcelona tried to take advantage of this opportunity to the maximum. In the summer, the team was supplemented with goalkeepers Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo, defenders Thomas Vermaelen, Jeremy Mathieu, and Douglas Pereira, midfielders Alen Halilović and Ivan Rakitić, and forward Luis Suárez.
At the end of August, the FIFA Appeals Committee announced the rejection of Barcelona's arguments, so the only option left for the club was to appeal the sanctions imposed by FIFA to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
If this institution rejects Barcelona's appeal before the start of the 2015 transfer window, the ban on player acquisitions will take effect this winter. Barcelona will not be able to strengthen the team in the summer of the following year.
Such a strict punishment for one of the world's strongest clubs was given for violating Article 19 of FIFA's Transfer Rules. This article specifies the cases in which it is forbidden to acquire players who are under 18 years old. Exceptions are also regulated, specifying when, under certain circumstances, clubs are allowed more freedom to acquire underage players from abroad.
A player who is younger than 18 can be acquired if their parents change their place of residence for reasons unrelated to football, i.e., they move to the country where the purchasing club is registered and competing.
A transfer is not restricted if a minor player with citizenship of any European Union country, aged between 16 and 18, is being acquired.
A minor player can also be acquired if their place of residence is located within 50 kilometers from the state border, and they are acquired by a club from a neighboring country whose headquarters is also located no more than 50 kilometers from the state border.
According to FIFA, none of the players, whose transfers are accused of violation by Barcelona, met any exemption rule, which means that the Catalan club "committed a serious offense."
If the Court of Arbitration for Sport does not satisfy the appeal, the Spanish vice-champions will also have to pay a fine of 450,000 Swiss francs and remove all violations within 90 days.
The Spanish Football Federation, which also registered such players, received a fine of 500,000 Swiss francs and an obligation to accordingly adjust the registration procedures for young football players.
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