Atletico Madrid Transfer Ban Upheld By Court
Reuters / Sergio Perez
La Liga giants Atletico Madrid have been given a red signal for indulging in any kind of transfer business for the upcoming transfer window by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Atletico won’t be able to bring in any new players to Vicente Calderón this summer, as their transfer ban has been upheld by the Court.
The Spanish giants were banned in July 2016 from signing players for two transfer windows after they were found guilty of breaching FIFA’s rules over the signing of minors. Their rivals, Real Madrid, had also faced a ban for the same offence in December, but were able to reduce their penalty to half on appeal.
“This ruling is unfair and causes an irreparable damage to our club,” said the club in one of their statements.
Atletico added that the court’s decision was “comparative disadvantage and discriminatory treatment” of the club, due to the fact that Real Madrid would be able to kick-off their transfer business in the summer window that starts on 1 July.
However, Los Rojiblancos’ fine has been reduced from 900,000 Swiss Francs (£719,793) to 550,000 (£439,873) as a result of their appeal. The club is said to have “full confidence” in their team, and they are determined to continue “competing at the same level next season”.
The investigation conducted by FIFA was mainly focused on players aged under 18 who had played in competitions for Atletico Madrid from 2007-2014, and Real Madrid from 2005-2014. FIFA had initially ruled on the matter in January 2016, but the Spanish giants were able to sign players last summer after appealing against the decision.
After the appeals were rejected, both sides then went to Court of Arbitration for Sport which subsequently relaxed Real Madrid’s suspension.
Atletico will be allowed to sign new players again from January 1, 2018.
Written by Sidharth Jindal 
Sports fanatic with a passion for writing (predominantly football) and “Wants to live life to its fullest.” Writes about the Premier League on his personal blog.