Barcelona to appeal FIFA transfer ban, says club

Barcelona: Barcelona will lodge an appeal to try to overturn a ban on participating in the transfer market for breaching rules on the international transfer of foreign under-18 players, the club said on Wednesday.

FIFA, soccer's world governing body, announced earlier on Wednesday that it had banned Barca from the transfer market for two consecutive windows and fined the club 450,000 Swiss francs.

"FCB will present the corresponding appeal to FIFA and if necessary will submit the resulting resolution to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)," Barca said in a statement on their website (www.fcbarcelona.es).