Atletico Madrid have been found to be involved in 65 ‘serious’ cases of illegally signing underage players, according to reports in Spain.
Cadena Cope have verified reports elsewhere in the Spanish press that Atleti’s charges far exceed those of Barcelona (6) and Real Madrid (8, which were then reduced to 2).
This comes amid reports that Los Rojiblancos will be unsuccessful in their attempts to get their FIFA transfer ban, which means the club cannot register players until January 2018, overturned this summer.
El Pais uploaded a story online to report their appeal had failed, although this was swiftly deleted while Onda Cero reporter Joaquin Rodriguez has stated the club’s appeal was not successful.
The club will still be able to sign players this summer although they will not be registered to play until January 2018, in a similar situation to Barcelona’s signings of Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal in 2015.
In January 2016 both Atletico and city rivals Real Madrid were banned from all transfer activity until January 2018 – after FIFA found they had broken laws on the international transfers of players aged under 16 – although Los Blancos have subsequently been cleared to make signings for the 2017 summer transfer window.
