Barcelona banned from transfer activity until 2016 after FIFA rejects appeal

Wednesday saw FIFA make its highly-anticipated decision regarding Barcelona's appeal of the transfer ban the club was hit with in April.

As a result of the verdict, Barcelona will now be unable to sign any players in the next two transfer windows and will launch another appeal to Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Barcelona were initially banned from transfer activity on April 2 for breaching FIFA's rules relating to the transfer of international players under the age of 18. Specifically, FIFA investigated the Catalan club's dealings over the past year and found them guilty of "serious" infringement in the case of 10 minors. However, their transfer ban was put on hold while the FIFA Appeal Committee dealt with Barcelona's appeal.

International youth transfers are only permissible if the player's parent moved to a different country for non-footballing reasons, if the player comes from a nation within the European Union or European Economic Area and are aged between 16 to 18, or if they live within 100 kilometers of the club.

The timing of the ban, which is accompanied by a fine of 450,000 Swiss Francs, could be worse as it won't take effect until the next registration period in January 2015 and allowed the Catalan club to enjoy a phenomenal summer in terms of signings, even by their standards. They now possess a squad that any team would be happy to have until January of 2016, when they'll be able to once again engage in transfer activity.

Meanwhile, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF) has been ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 Swiss Francs and granted a one-year period to regularize "their regulatory framework and existing system concerning the international transfer of minors in football."