ZURICH: FIFA has wasted no time enforcing its ban on third-party ownership, hitting Belgian lower division club Seraing with a transfer ban and €100,000 fine.

The transfer ban will prevent the club from registering any new players, nationally or internationally, for four complete and consecutive registration periods.

FIFA’s executive committee decided in December 2014 to ban TPO, allowing a transitional period from 1 January to 30 April 2015, “in order to preserve the independence of clubs and players and to ensure the integrity of matches and competitions.”

In the case of FC Seraing, the Disciplinary Committee found the club to have breached articles 18bis and 18ter of the transfer regulations “by having sold part of the economic rights of several players to a third party and by having entered into contracts that enabled the third party to have influence on the club’s independence and policies in transfer-related matters.”

Disciplinary proceedings were opened after investigations conducted by FIFA TMS, the FIFA subsidiary charged with policing international transfers.

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