Transfer bans: what’s happening?

Football transfers, it’s every fan’s obsession once the window opens, everyone wants to know the new players their clubs wants to buy, is he a superstar? a good addition to the roster? or a future prospect? Almost every website tracks the deals happening throughout the window day by day in a live feed for the enthusiastic fans, not just done deals, but also rumors, deals close to completion and even the trajectory of the private jet the superstar is boarding to his new destination. The football frenzy has gone mad these days.

But the world is getting to know a new trend nowadays, the transfer ban, or transfer embargo. What is that? Why all of a sudden FIFA are imposing them on certain teams?

From registering minor players, under the age of 18, to breaching the rules in playing some of them in official matches for the club or non-compliance with the terms of financial fair play issued by UEFA. Teams have to cope with these rules or risk the transfer ban which could be a serious thing considering its importance these days to win trophies and silverware. But does this ban really hurt the clubs? and is there a way around it? Fourteen months ago FIFA slapped a transfer ban on FC Barcelona which prevented the club from registering new players on their books. The Catalan club acted quickly to issue an appeal and after that to knock on the door of the Court of Arbitration of Sport. These maneuvers helped Luis Enrique’s team to buy the needed time in order to get some deals over the line like the 75M euros transfer of Luis Suarez from Liverpool, Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal, Claudio Bravo from Real Sociedad, Jeremy Mathieu from Valencia and Marc-Andre Ter-Stegen from Borussia Moenchengladbach. The Club won every piece of silverware available in a remarkable season for the Catalans. The next summer they bought Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal but couldn’t register them until January of this year. But where’s the ban if football teams can negotiate and sign players? Obviously Barcelona didn’t feel anything from it, it didn’t hurt them at all. And now FIFA sanctioned bans on Madrid duo Real and Atletico and it didn’t take long to hear that Los Blancos have appealed the decision. Chelsea football club may face such thing if found guilty of breaching the rules when playing Bertrand Traoré in a match years ago when he was 16 at the time.

UEFA was more strict in their bans regarding the Financial Fair Play. Teams such as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain knew the taste of it. They both registered a net loss in more than one season, therefore they had to balance their books in order to sign players and payed heavy fines. But this past summer the bans were lifted from both teams and subsequently they both went on a spending spree. City bought Raheem Sterling from Liverpool for 50M pounds and PSG got their man in Angel Di Maria for 44M pounds after losing him to Manchester United the past window because of the ban.

After all of this we can conclude that none of FIFA’s or UEFA’s bans were that serious. They tried to lay the law and spread fear among clubs that they can’t go around throwing money and creating unjust gaps in their respective leagues. FIFA tried to fight the so called “Nouveaux-riches” who threatened to ruin football as we know it, from Anzhi Makhachkala, Malaga, PSG to Manchester City just to name a few. These bans have to be serious to intimidate football clubs. If a ban is imposed, a club should not have the right to negotiate and buy a player even if the decision is appealed. If there’s a breach in Financial Fair Play, clubs should pay the price and full-stop. The Authorities must have the coercive power to determine what’s right and wrong and to punish those found guilty. If teams get away with it then nobody will fear the law anymore.

 

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