The team had a bit of a rainy training session today. Everyone was out on the pitch along with Castilla’s Marcos Llorente. Sese ran on his own.
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Because this is Real Madrid and we can’t go a week without some sort of drama, it’s all gone to shit again.
First there was the announcement that FIFA had banned us (and Atleti) from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows.
FROM REALMADRID.COM
Real Madrid C. F. has today received the decision from the FIFA disciplinary committee, dated 23th July 2015, sanctioning the club with a transfer ban that prevents them from registering any players for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods as well as fining the club 360,000 Swiss francs.
According to the decision, Real Madrid CF has been sanctioned for:1.- Playing foreign players, under 18 years of age without being appropriately registered with the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (Spanish Football Federation): Absolutely untrue. All the players that play or have played in the youth teams in our club are and have been registered with the RFEF with prior notice before entering the field of play, as certified by the Spanish Football Federation to FIFA by means of a correspondence dated 17th April 2015, as the files show.
2.- Incorporating foreign players under the age of 18 years old, either for their first registration in Spain or through transfers from other foreign clubs, without fulfilling the regulatory requirements: Equally untrue. Real Madrid C. F. has always complied with FIFA regulation:
-With regards to players older than 12 years of age and younger than 18, has always complied with FIFA regulation requesting that the RFEF process (as they did) the corresponding authorisation from the FIFA Players’ Status Committee.
-With regards to the players under 12 years of age, the RFEF (the only FIFA representative in Spain) established and communicated to Real Madrid C. F. (email dated 10th March 2014) that in relation to these players, they don’t need a separate process to that of a Spanish under age player, which was ratified by FIFA to the RFEF by fax on 17th Aril 2014.
3.- Not communicating to the RFEF the players that play in the youth teams as FIFA considers that these teams are the equivalent to an academy: Also untrue. Although it is considered that the combined Real Madrid C. F. youth teams consist of an academy, despite not being independent legal entities, Real Madrid C. F. has always notified the RFEF the players who are registered in these teams, as can be proven by the fact that each and every one of them have the corresponding federative licenses, as stated in the document certified by the federation dated 8th April 2015.
As a result, Real Madrid C. F. will appeal this decision of FIFA in all the sporting incidents, considering them absolutely inappropriate.
So yeah, we’re fighting it. Because that worked super well with the Copa Del Rey. Anyhow we called a presser.
FROM REALMADRID.COM
J. A. Sánchez: “This club has values that will never be broken”
The general director was accompanied by the club’s director of legal services, Javier López Farré, explaining the club’s position regarding FIFA’s decision.
The director general of Real Madrid José Ángel Sánchez and the club’s director of legal services Javier López Farré attended the media in the press room at the Santiago Bernabeú in relation to the sanction given by the FIFA disciplinary committee. “This club has values and a code of ethics and we have never broken them”. Explained the director general.
After referring to the different points reflected in today’s official announcement by the club, José Ángel Sánchez confirmed “This club has never collaborated in the uprooting of families of underage players. Neither because the circumstance has arisen in which we have to register a foreign player, leaving behind his family, nor has arisen a circumstance in which we have a ploy to bring a family along with a player. In neither of the two cases of dislocation have Real Madrid failed to comply with the regulations. Simply it has not happened”.“This club has values and a code of ethics and despite the fact that the records go back to 2005, the people responsible during the period have never broken this code. It simply hasn’t happened”.
“On the other hand, the arguments are so incorrect…they stand out because they are so incorrect that it is absurd that this club is sanctioned. The cases of the Zidane family and the brother of Garay are well known and we all know the circumstances of the families and we understand that nothing irregular could have occurred. I can assure you that the rest of the cases on the record are exactly the same. The circumstances of the families are the same despite the fact that these players are not well known or famous”.
“As I’ve already explained, the club is confident that the resolution of this case will be successful including at the headquarters of FIFA. The arguments used do not make sense. But the club is confident that our arguments will be valid in the avenues of appeal within FIFA”.
Questions from journalist present were put forward:
Irregular signings according to FIFA
The document seems to affect 39 players, but regarding the registering of players, the cub has only been sanctioned for 8 as I understand”.Timeline for appeal
“The only deadline that is know is the appeal date. There are three days as of tomorrow to notify if the appeal is going ahead, and in our case this will happen, then seven days to present it. In total ten days. After that appeal timeline, according to FIFA rules, there are no concrete periods and we will adapt to what FIFA decide. We have always be respectful to FIFA in every sense” assured López Farré.The resolution arrived this morning and it was unexpected, it caught us by surprise. We didn’t not for one minute expect something like this to happen. That reflects the confidence we have in the procedure for registering players at the club, respecting the rules that are in effect in that moment”.
FIFA warning?
“FIFA did not warn us. The resolution was taken on in July and we weren’t warned at all. We recognise that there is a weakness in the argument of the resolution, which as a result seems strange that they can sanction us in this way and for things that have not happened. We are very confident that we will be successful in the appeal process”.Squad planning
“At this moment we are only thinking about the appeal process. We are not even considering the other possibilities. The club has professional to take care of the planning and they will do what they have to do. From our point of view there will be no other outcome if justice is served in the appeal process and common sense will see that there will be no consequences for the club”.Support from the RFEF
“I have not spoken to them. But throughout this process the RFEF has always been on Real Madrid’s side. They have always told the truth, that the Real Madrid players and registered correctly since day one. I suppose they are as surprised as we are. I hope we don’t have to go to the CAS, but if we have to do so, of course we will.“The club is confident that the appeal will be successful.”
“We don’t know if the RFEF will be sanctioned. They have only told us about the sanction on the club. I don’t know of other sanctions and I can’t say anything. Everything was processed correctly, and if they are sanctioned I imagine they will appeal, if not, it’s further evidence that everything was processed correctly”.
Seriousness of the sanction
It’s serious, without a doubt. They are so unusual and absurd that the conclusions that have been taken and the type of sanction they have given us make it so difficult to understand, we believe that we have a strong possibility that the club will suffer no consequences. We are going to fight to defend the image of the club. It’s a well-respected club with values all the way through. This club has rejected the opportunity to sign a lot of players because of the rules”.The precedent of Barcelona
“I’m not going to comment on the Barcelona case, but our case is totally different. We can only think that this has been a mistake.The next summer transfer window
“We are not considering other possibilities and we believe that the appeal made by the club will work. We have been working on this for over a year. We know the cases very well, we have been over them a thousand times. For us it is incomprehensible that they have sanctioned us and we understand that we should not suffer any consequences. The jurisdictional organizations make mistakes and they revise the decisions. We understand that this will be the case”.Loan players
“We have spoken with RFEF and the rules don’t specify anything. We understand that the players loaned out can return because they are registered with the club”.“FIFA have the tools to ask for information from the federations. They can also look on the websites…We have provided all of the contract with the parents, the registrations from the places where they have been living, the contract to rent homes, the schools. In a lot of cases there have been youngsters who have been residing here more than three years”.
“Of the eight cases that have been put upon us regarding incorrect registrations, there is a case of one player who we did not register because he didn’t have the documentation. We considered that he didn’t comply with the regulations because he was less than 12 years old. The values of the club are more thorough than those of the regulations. Another of the youngsters sanctioned had received authorization from the Status Committee. And another is one that we took to the commission and they denied his authorization. He was only here for a trial”.
Is this an attempt to deflect the attention from the problems at FIFA?
“I don’t know, it’s not worth me evaluating the subject. What we can do it try to understand this resolution, go down the appeal route, which we will do with confidence that it will be resolved”.Florentino Pérez
“I spoke with him, he is ok, equally as surprised as everyone else. We knew the case and we were calm about it. He is surprised and we hope that the avenues of appeal will be successful and that it is something that we can solve without a sanction”.Zidane’s sons
“I can’t say the names of the eight cases because it is personal information. We had requested authorization for Zidane’s sons. Two of Zidane’s sons have been involved in the sanctions because it is considered that they were processed wrongly. Looking at the resolution, it’s possible to purchase players and loan them. We’ve not looked in to the scenario”.Upon completion of the questioning various documents were shown as evidence that the players were signed correctly.
Sigh. I don’t even know what to say. Moving on…
I keep meaning to mention this and forgetting but perhaps now it will act as a palate cleanser. James’s wife Daniela Ospina is part of the cast of Bailando Con Las Estrellas, which is the Colombian version of Dancing with the Stars.
Here’s her profile.
The fans and judges kinda slated her. 😦 Make no mistake, she’s not great, but she’s light years better than her castmate La Tigresa del Oriente who is terrifying (and has two left feet). She looks like some unholy mish mash between Dolly Parton and Jocelyn Wildenstein. Whoa.
Anyhow, back to Daniela. Here’s some shots of her on set. Daniela always seems like a sweet lady to me. I hope at the very least, she’s enjoying herself.
And there’s Salome with her! I miss Salome pictures. Here’s a few more pix and videos to cheer us up.
Enjoy! If we have to have this shitty drama at least we can enjoy a cute bebe’ along with it.
– Lozil
Of Headbands and Heartbreak
watishistacorrespondents
Of Headbands and Heartbreak... 
So Daniela is in Colombia and that’s why James is getting in trouble. I’m sticking to that….
And the hits just keep on coming! The best one is Salome!