Barca Gets 14-Month Transfer Ban

FIFA decided to flex its collective muscle on one of its model franchises yesterday when an investigation uncovered that FC Barcelona was mishandling their transactions involving athletes under the age of 18.

Their statement read in part:

“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol (RFEF) and Spanish club FC Barcelona for breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18.

“The investigations concerned several minor players who were registered and participated in competitions with the club over various periods between 2009 and 2013.”

It looks like the summer and winter transfer windows will now remain without Barca's participation. The club plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)- which is notorious for voting in favor of people they like and voting against those they don't regardless of the evidence presented.

There are select conditions involved in youth transfers and FIFA claims that Barca violated the terms on ten players and also fined them the equivalent of a little over $500,000- which, for Barca as a franchise, is around seven dollars of their budget...

Barca will have some transfer decisions this off-season including both goalies and Carles Puyol, so it will be interesting to see if the deals they have in place for replacements will be able to stick...

Here's Valdes' injury that will keep him out for seven months and keep Barca fans gnashing their collective teeth...
((HT: UEFA))

How'd You Like To Be Relegated Over $24...???

((HT: Pro Soccer Talk))

Well, if you were Thurrock FC in what amounts to the fifth level of professional football in England (Isthmian Division One North), you're now Isthmian Division One South (6th level) over a fine that wasn't paid by a player who wasn't supposed to play until the fine was paid to his old club..

Kinda like an overdue library book...

And the illegal player meant a three-point penalty and relegation instead of being a point clear...

Joel Barnett played for a team that folded- and therefore couldn't pay anything to anyone much less cover a fine from a player... and then he played for Thurrock. The FA is saying that Thurrock should have done their due diligence in knowing that Barnett was owing a league money, but the team isn't going down without a fight...

Joe Prince-Wright over at PST has the money quote from the Thurrock front office:

It’s a disgrace. It all happened 11 months ago and what the FA and Ryman League have told us is that we should have checked this website and that, but we followed procedure by checking with our own county FA. It’s a real mess because he got sent off playing elsewhere before he came here and got a three-match ban but nothing was flagged up.

And the club is going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland for some kind of conclusion...
How binding it is...???

Who knows...???

Here's highlights of the 1-1 draw Thurrock had last season against Concord Rangers- for those of you who follow those sorts of things...