Barcelona will be unable to make any signings in
2015 after their appeal
against a two-window
transfer ban was rejected
by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Catalan giants were handed the initial ban
by Fifa after being found guilty of signing
underage players from outside of Spain. And CAS has returned its verdict on Tuesday
explaining that they found no grounds to
overturn Fifa's decision, thereby confirming
Barca's ban. "CAS has dismissed the appeal filed by FC
Barcelona against Fifa regarding the decision
issued by the Fifa Appeals Committee on
August 19, 2014," said a CAS statement. "The panel found in particular that FC Barcelona
had breached the rules regarding the
protection of minors and the registration of
minors attending football academies...
Accordingly, the Fifa decision is confirmed in
full and the sanction remains in force." Barca's appeal to CAS forced a delay of the
initial ban and allowed them to sign Luis
Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Alen Halilovic and others
during the 2014 summer transfer window. But CAS’ decision is the final word on the ban,
with Europe’s highest sporting judiciary
deciding that the suspension of activity will
now be in effect during the January window
and the summer spending period. Barcelona will only now be allowed to add to
their squad from January 2016.

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