The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld a transfer ban imposed by FIFA on Atlético de Madrid for breaching its regulations concerning the transfer of minor (u18) players. In January last year, the international federation of football associations (FIFA) banned Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid from registering any players for the next two registration periods (commonly called transfer windows) after finding that both clubs had breached Articles 5, 9, 19 and 19bis as well as annexes 2 and 3 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.

Article 9 prevents the international transfer of players who are under the age of 18, but it does allow exceptions. These are: if the player’s parents move to a country in which the new club is located for non-football reasons; if the player lives no further than 50km from a national border and the club which he intends to register is within 50km from that border; or if the player is aged between 16 and 18, in which case a number of obligations must be fulfilled. These include providing education to the player and ensuring ‘optimum living standards’.

Obviously, this leads to grey areas. For instance, there have been allegations that certain clubs secure jobs for the parents of players prior to arranging a transfer. FIFA’s investigations concerned minor players that participated in competitions between 2007 and 2014 (Atlético de Madrid) and between 2005 and 2014 (Real Madrid).

The FIFA Appeals Committee rejected the appeal from both clubs on 8 April 2016, however did not announce its decision or issue its grounds for them until September. Both clubs then appealed to the CAS.

On 20 December last year, the CAS reduced the transfer ban imposed on Real Madrid to one transfer period. ‘The FIFA Disciplinary Committee found that of the 70 registration of minors investigated, Real Madrid violated the RSTP [Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players] with regard to 39 of them’, reads the full CAS decision.

Part of FIFA’s decision attempted to sanction the club for failing to seek approval for the registration of players under the age of 12. ‘The Sole Arbitrator is not satisfied that prior to the issuance of the FIFA Circular no. 1468, clubs had an obligation to obtain a favorable decision under Article 19.2 RSTP for players under the age of 12’, reads the CAS decision. Prior to the issuance of FIFA Circular 1468, it found that Real Madrid had received confirmation that it didn’t need to seek approval for the registration of players under the age of 12.

Therefore, the CAS reasoned, FIFA could not attempt to charge the club for failing to seek approval for the registration of four players under the age of 12 before that circular had been issued. The CAS also agreed that Real Madrid could not be sanctioned relating to two further players, since they had only trained with the club and had not taken part in ‘organised competition’ as defined by FIFA’s Regulations.

The CAS also found that a number of the players were in fact registered with the Spanish football association (RFEF), as required by the FIFA Regulations. ‘Considering that the infractions committed by Real Madrid CF were less serious and less numerous than argued by the FIFA judiciary bodies, the Sole Arbitrator ruled that the sanctions imposed on Real Madrid CF had to be reduced’, concludes the ruling.

The grounds for the CAS decision to uphold Atlético de Madrid’s sanction are yet to be published. However, the CAS reduced a CHF900,000 (€827,000) fine to CHF550,000 (€505,000). ‘The ban will apply to the next registration period (summer 2017) considering that the club Atlético de Madrid has already served part of said ban over the past registration period (i.e. January 2017)’, read a FIFA statement issued today. ‘Furthermore, the club Atlético de Madrid has been given a period of 90 days in which to regularise the situation of all minor players concerned’.

The FIFA document below offers further information on the measures that it takes to protect minors.