Manchester City fined by FIFA but avoids transfer ban

Manchester City admitted that the club breached FIFA rules in signing U-18 players. But luckily, the club avoids transfer ban. Unlike Chelsea, FIFA did not impose transfer ban but fined the club for violating rules. 

The defending Premier League Champions fined £315,000 by FIFA. The Football Association stated that City violated article 19 of FIFA rules which states that no club can sign an international player aged under 18.

In response to this fine, City stated that the violation of this rule was only a result of misinterpretation.

A few months back, FIFA imposed a transfer ban of two transfer windows on Chelsea for a similar rule violation. Later, the club appealed for overturning the decision.

Man City tackled the situation well and said that the club fully co-operated with FIFA in this situation and try to work according to the rules of FIFA.

According to FIFA rules, no club can sign an international player under aged 18 unless the club meets some strict criteria. This rule was made to protect children from trafficking. 

A U-18 player can only be signed by an international club only if the parents of that player agree to move to that country without any footballing reason. The second condition is that both the clubs must be in the region of the European Union and the age of the player is between 16-18. And the final condition is that the transferred player must live within the distance of 100km from the new club.

Chelsea who was banned by FIFA appealed against the decision. But the blues failed in the first FIFA appeal. And then the club announced that they are taking the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

However, this is not the first time that Manchester City is charged by FIFA. Back in May 2017, FIFA banned City from signing academy players for two years and a fine of £300,000 was also imposed for violating PL transfer rules. UEFA is also investigating the financial fair play for Man City.