Spanish FA fined in Real-Atletico transfer case

The Spanish football federation has been fined 220,000 Swiss francs (£180,940) for violating youth player transfer rules in the case involving Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

Real and Atletico are banned from registering players in the next two transfer windows after losing an appeal against their own punishments.

Fifa has given the Spanish FA six months to improve its transfer system.

It has strict rules restricting Under-18 players moving to foreign clubs.

Fifa’s investigation concerned youth players who played for Atletico between 2007 and 2014, and Real from 2005 to 2014 with the clubs respectively fined £622,000 and £249,000 for breaching rules. Barcelona were banned from registering players for two transfer windows in April 2014, but bought Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal in 2015, finally registering them to make them eligible to play when their suspension was lifted in January 2016.

Real and Atletico are banned from registering new players until January 2018.