Lausanne: Real Madrid can buy new players in next summer’s transfer window after sport’s highest court on Tuesday halved their initial two-window ban imposed by Fifa.
The European champions had been sanctioned by world football’s ruling body for irregularities in the signing of foreign under-18 players.
But after an appeal the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially overturned the Fifa sentence, with Real still banned from recruiting in the upcoming January window.
CAS also cut the fine imposed by Fifa on the club from 360,000 Swiss francs ($350,000, Dh1.2 million) to 240,000.
Real welcomed the verdict but rued that the Spanish giants weren’t fully exonerated.
“This decision shows the injustice of the punishment imposed by Fifa whilst the club regrets that CAS didn’t have the courage to overturn it completely,” the club said.
Real’s appeal was investigated by Swiss lawyer Michele Bernasconi who found “that some of the rule violations alleged by Fifa could be upheld, but not all of them,” according to a CAS statement.
It concluded: “Considering that the infractions committed by Real Madrid were less serious and less numerous than argued by the Fifa judiciary bodies, the Sole Arbitrator ruled that the sanctions imposed on Real Madrid had to be reduced.”
Real’s last major signing was in the summer when they officially activated a buy-back clause to re-sign their former striker Alvaro Morata from Juventus for a fee in the region of 30 million euros.
Meanwhile, Zidane has reminded his side of their La Liga lead after 16 matches in 2014-15, when they had also won the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
The current holders of both eventually collapsed under coach Carlo Ancelotti and ended the season in disappointment, with the Italian losing his job.
“We all know what happened in 2014 after we won the Club World Cup. It can happen at any moment,” said Zidane, who had been an assistant to Ancelotti. “I think that the season will be long and difficult for us. If we work hard I don’t think that things will change.”
With two more games without a loss, Madrid will match Barcelona’s Spanish record of 39 games unbeaten, a mark set last season. Madrid are three points clear with a game in hand.
