The Catalans have had their ban lifted.
After being suspended on making transfers until 2015 Barcelona have appealed and have had the ban lifted until after the 2014 summer window.
The ban hasn’t been revoked, but it’s said that the appeal from the Catalans can’t be heard before the transfer window opens on July 1.
Barca were slapped with the original ban after signing players aged 18-years-old illegally and it meant they could sign no new players in the next two transfer windows.
This posed a serious problem for the Spanish champions, who were preparing to lose Victor Valdes and Carles Puyol on free transfers in the summer.
Although they still had the ability to sell players their squad would have been so depleted that competing in La Liga and the Champions League would have been extremely difficult.
The Catalonia club confirmed on April 2 when the ban was imposed that they would be appealing against it and it seems that FIFA’s original decision may be overruled.
Barca had been signing international players under the age of 18 despite them not qualifying to do so based on the criteria from football’s governing body.
Players from another country cannot move to a club in another nation unless they are from another EU member, their parents move to the country for non-footballing reasons, or they live within 100km of the club.
The appeal will be heard later in 2014.
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