Barcelona will not be able to make any signings in the next two transfer windows, after Fifa rejected their appeal against transfer ban.
The Catalan club were slapped with a 14-month ban transfer ban earlier this year, after they were found guilty of breaching Fifa's regulations on signing U-18 players.
The suspension was temporarily lifted during Fifa's re-evaluation of the case, after Barcelona appealed the ban. And as a result, they were allowed to sign several players, including Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Jeremy Mathieu, Thomas Vermaelen and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
However, Fifa has now announced that they have rejected Barcelona's appeal, and that the ban will be effective on the next two transfer windows.
"The FIFA Appeal Committee has decided to reject the appeals lodged by Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF) and to confirm in their entirety the decisions rendered by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee in the respective cases relating to the protection of minors," read a statement on Fifa's official website.
"FC Barcelona is to serve a transfer ban which will see the club prevented from registering any players at both national and international level for two complete and consecutive transfer periods, starting with the next registration period (January 2015) given that the appeal of the club had been granted suspensive effect by the chairman of the FIFA Appeal Committee," the statement added.
On top of the ban, Fifa has also slapped Barcelona with a fine of 450,000 Swiss Francs (£305,000) and asked them to "regularise the situation" of all the U-18 players concerned.
"FC Barcelona has also been ordered to pay a fine of CHF 450,000 and been given a period of 90 days from today in which to regularise the situation of all minor players concerned."
And in response, the La Liga giants have stated that they will take their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
"Following the resolution announced today by the Fifa Appeals Committee on violations of regulations regarding the transfer and registration of children aged under 18 years, FC Barcelona announces that it shall continue defending its interests before the highest sporting authority, in this case the Court of Arbitration for Sport," read an announcement on the club's official website.
"FC Barcelona may not in any way share a resolution that is an affront to the spirit of our Masia, a world renowned example of academic, human and sporting education."
