Court upholds Rio Ave’s ban on new athlete registration, but reduces fine

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) has upheld the sanction applied by FIFA to Rio Ave from the Portuguese 1st football league that it will not be able to sign new players before the end of this year, the Vila-Condense club announced this Sunday. .

TAC, however, acknowledged some of the assumptions of Rio Ave’s appeal, cutting the financial penalty in half, although the club continues to consider the punishment unfair.

“Despite the outcome of this process, Rio Ave believes that its actions have not violated FIFA rules and, therefore, the penalty incurred is unfair and excessive so that a situation like this does not happen again,” the Vila-Condense emblem said through a statement.

Rio Ave has been punished by FIFA with a financial fine and a ban on player registrations in two transfer windows following an alleged violation of the registration of Cameroonian player Fabrice Olinga in 2022, still under the mandate of former President António Silva Campos.

The athlete’s registration was the subject of a complaint to FIFA by Moroccan club Raja Casablanca, who claimed to have signed a preliminary agreement with the athlete and who informed Rio Ave of the situation.

FIFA agreed with the African emblem and, in addition to punishing the player with a suspension, also sanctioned Rio Ave, which, however, filed an appeal with the Swiss-headquartered TAS for disagreeing with the decision, considering that the club “never took any decision that violated FIFA rules and to that extent harmed third parties.”

“The said court has now notified the parties of its final decision, whereby it partially accepts the appeal filed by Rio Ave, reducing the financial penalty by half, but maintaining the ban on player registration during the specified periods. is now final and Rio Ave will only be able to re-register players during the winter transfer window (January 2024),” the statement said.

In this text, signed by the new president of the emblem of Foz do Ave, Alexandrina Cruz, the director says that “preparations for the current season have already been carried out in view of the ban on the registration of new players”, recalling that “the goals set have been set accordingly, with the renewal of several contracts and the preservation of the group of players from last season almost at full strength.

“It is with this great group that we have, and with full confidence in it, that we will be able to achieve the desired success, conveying to all partners that we will do everything to live up to our good name and our successful path.” , – concluded Alexandrina Cruz.