Barcelona Transfer Ban Lifted

Barcelona's one-year transfer ban has been suspended while the club's appeal against the sanction remains unresolved.

FIFA has cleared the Spanish club to sign players from July 1, with their case unlikely to be resolved before the transfer window opens for the summer.

They were barred from registering new players for two windows earlier this year by FIFA's disciplinary committee as punishment for signing youth players from overseas in breach of rules designed to prevent child trafficking.

Barcelona have pledged to pursue a further challenge at the Court of Arbitration for Sport if, as expected, they lose the initial appeal at FIFA.

A FIFA statement said: "The chairman of the FIFA appeal committee considered that the appeal lodged by the club is to be granted suspensive effect."