Barcelona's appeal over transfer ban to be heard by CAS on Dec. 5

Barcelona's appeal against a year-long transfer ban imposed by FIFA will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Dec. 5.

The Spanish club, banned until 2016 from brokering any deals in the transfer window after they were found guilty of illegally signing 10 international players under the age of 18, will be hoping for some leniency from the CAS after their initial appeal was rejected by FIFA. 

Though they were able to bring in significant reinforcements this summer in order to somewhat subdue the immediate impact of the ban, the club is no doubt aware that if this appeal also fails, it will pose a major problem in the years to come as rivals continue to improve their respective squads.