巴萨下赛季禁止签署任何球员

Bad news for Barcelona, as the Catalan giants will be unable to make any signings in 2015 after their appeal against a two-window transfer ban was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Barca was handed the initial ban by FIFA after being found guilty of signing foreign under-18 players. CAS heard the team's appeal and returned its verdict explaining that they found no grounds to overturn the original decision, thereby confirming Barca's ban.

CAS’ decision is the final word on the punishment, with Europe’s highest sporting judiciary deciding that the suspension of activity will now be in effect during the January window and the summer spending period. Barcelona will only now be allowed to add to their squad until January 2016.

Club President Josep Maria Bartomeu fiercely defended his team's "La Masia" academy, saying Barca have been the victims of a "grave injustice".

"FIFA and its president should protect the foottball world, but with decisions like this they deviate from their objective. We do not feel supported or protected by those who should be doing so. They prioritized adherence to a badly written law above the spirit which the law inspires. A precedent has been created which is bad for football with the intention to taint the image of our club," he said.