Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid given transfer bans

FIFA has handed both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid transfer bans for an entire year, after breaking rules over the transfer of minors.

There has been a plethora of controversy regarding Spain’s biggest clubs and the transfers they have made over the past few years. Barcelona was handed a one year transfer ban – that just ended this month- for breaching its rules on the international transfer and registration of players aged under 18. On Thursday, it was discovered that two of the Catalan’s biggest rivals were handed the same punishment for the same crime.

FIFA announced that both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have been banned from registering new signings for the next two transfer windows. The ban will not affect the current transfer window though, but will kick in this summer. The decision allows both clubs to bolster their squad as much as possible during the current transfer window, with the knowledge that they won’t be able to make anymore acquisitions for an entire calendar year.

For Real Madrid this has to be seen as a massive blow, with new head coach Zinedine Zidane not allowed to shape the squad to his preference over the next year. January is always a difficult time to make moves, and Los Blancos will be desperate to sign players as soon as possible. They currently sit third in the La Liga table with 40 points from 19 matches, behind both Atletico and Barcelona.

The year long transfer ban didn’t have too much of a negative effect on Barcelona last year though, with the club winning a treble. Both Madrid clubs will be hoping they can have similar success, despite not being allowed to register any new players for an entire year.