Atletico Madrid appeal transfer ban handed down by FIFA, deny any wrongdoing

Atletico Madrid have lodged an appeal "against the decision by FIFA's disciplinary commission" that resulted in a ban for the next two transfers window for the transferring of underage players to different countries without the approval of a special FIFA committee.

Atletico Madrid and their city rivals, Real Madrid, were both issued bans that would rule out the possibility of either club registering players during the summer transfer window or the following winter transfer window. Both clubs have denied any wrongdoing and, it appears, both clubs are willing to take the necessary action to get the bans lifted.

In a statement released by the club, they state:

Club Atletico de Madrid has presented this Monday the appeal to the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee which sanctions us with the ban to register national or foreign players during the next two whole recruiting periods and with a fine of 900,000 Swiss francs (£625,000).

The appeal is addressed to the Appeal Committee of the maximum global governing body of football and it reflects that our club does not agree with the sanctioning resolution and, at the same time, we consider that we have acted within the law in all cases.

They go on to request the probationary suspension of the ban.

Atletico Madrid might be given the summer to sign players as the appeal process is dealt with, which might be enough to execute enough transactions to build a squad that can sustain a prolonged period of inactivity in the transfer market.

At present, Atletico are in good shape defensively and in their midfield but with Oliver Torres linked heavily with a move to Borussia Dortmund, Fernando Torres' contract situation up in the air and Jackson Martinez struggling for form, the club might need the summer to invest in certain areas of the squad.