Barcelona transfer ban: Fifa issues 14-month sanction

The 14-month transfer ban raises serious questions about the club's immediate future, with Fifa applying the sanction against Barca for signing 10 minor players and committing "several other concurrent infringements". They have been fined £305,000 and if the punishment stands they will not be able to sign players until the summer of 2015, according to The Guardian.

Barca are expected to appeal against Fifa's decision via the court of arbitration for sport, but the news comes as a major blow for the Catalan club and the latest in a string of recent embarrassments for the board.

It casts doubt over moves already agreed for the £10m Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and the Croatian 17-year-old Halilovic, who turns 18 in June. Stegen was seen as the successor to Valdés, who is out for seven months with a knee injury and has said he is leaving the club in the summer.

The Spanish champions have a number of promising South Korean youngsters on the books, including the highly-rated Lee Seung Woo, plus many other under 18s from Cameroon. The players in question were registered and participated in competitions with the club between 2009 and 2013, while the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has also been sanctioned by Fifa for the same breaches.

Fifa said in a statement: "FC Barcelona has been found to be in breach of article 19 of the regulations in the case of 10 minor players and to have committed several other concurrent infringements in the context of other players.

"The disciplinary committee regarded the infringements as serious and decided to sanction the club with a transfer ban at both national and international level for two complete and consecutive transfer periods, together with a fine of 450,000 Swiss francs."Additionally, the club was granted a period of 90 days in which to regularise the situation of all minor players concerned."

Fifa rules prohibit the international transfers of players under the age of 18, unless the two clubs involved are within the territory of the European Union and the player's parents move to the country in which the new club is located for reasons not linked to football.

The Fifa statement added: "The disciplinary committee emphasised that the protection of minors in the context of international transfers is an important social and legal issue that concerns all stakeholders in football.

"The committee highlighted that while international transfers might, in specific cases, be favourable to a young player's sporting career, they are very likely to be contrary to the best interests of the player as a minor.

"Young football players are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in a foreign country without the proper controls. This particular fact makes the protection of minors in football by the sport's governing bodies, especially by Fifa, even more important."

The Spanish FA, which violated article 19 of the regulations regarding the first registration of the players, has been given one year in to "regularise their regulatory framework and existing system concerning the international transfer of minors in football".

Fifa only allows international youth transfers when one of three situations apply: the player's parents have moved country for their own, non-related reasons: the move takes place within the European Union if a player is aged between 16 and 18; or the player's home is less than 50km from the national border being crossed.

Earlier this year the Barcelona president, Sandro Rosell, resigned after being accused of misappropriating funds during the £50m transfer of Neymar, with the club formally accused of tax fraud in connection with the deal. Rosell denies wrongdoing.