The two clubs were banned from signing new players until the summer of 2017 for breaches “relating to the worldwide transfer and registration of players under the age of 18”.
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That means neither club will be allowed to bring in new players for the next two transfer windows – at the end of this season and in January 2017.
Barcelona served a similar sanction for 2015 after stalling the transfer ban to enable them to sign players in the 2014 window, including Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Claudio Bravo.
Both teams have been also fined CHF 900,000 and CHF 360,000 respectively.
Both clubs were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNN.
Reports this week have also suggested the club are keen to tie down current first-team players Jan Oblak, Jose Gimenez, Angel Correa and Antoine Griezmann to extended contracts, and frenzied activity could be a feature for the remainder of January at the Vicente Calderon with FIFA’s sanctions looming.
Real Madrid released a longer statement explaining why it believes FIFA’s ban was not justified.
“Consequently, Real Madrid will appeal this decision by Federation Internationale de Football Association to all sporting bodies, considering it absolutely unacceptable”.
The statement reads: “The two clubs were found to have violated several provisions concerning the global transfer and first registration of minor players”.
The Catalan club was also able to buy players during its ban but not register them to play – most notably Aleix Vidal and Arda Turan who made their debuts for the club this month once the suspension had ended. They can still sell players during the transfer ban. Real Madrid CF has always complied with the FIFA rules and thus: “-Regarding players ages 12 and under 18, have always met the requirements of FIFA regulations calling on the RFEF which will carry out (as did) the corresponding Commission approval of the FIFA Players” Status.
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Spanish media said that among the youngsters involved in irregular signings by Real Madrid were the sons of former player and now coach Zinedine Zidane.
