Barcelona president Josep María Bartomeu gave a press conference on the FIFA sanction and assured, "We have provided information on 33 youth football players to FIFA. The body sanctioned us on 28th November, 2013… but we received it on Wednesday. During these four months, Barça and the Spanish Football Federation have been told absolutely nothing of this sanction."
"This sanction has been handed down by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee because out of those 33 cases, they believe that there is wrongdoing in nine cases. We are going to lodge an appeal with FIFA and if it is rejected we will go to the CAS and request preventative measures to be able to sign both in the June 2014 market and the winter 2014 market. If we have to go to the CAS, we will do so together with the Royal Spanish Football Federation," he said.
Bartomeu continued, "At Barcelona we agree with the FIFA rules on the protection of minors. It's our philosophy. We set an example for many countries thanks to La Masía. We are victims of a great injustice."
"I would like to tell all of our members and all of the kids from La Masía that we are outraged. FIFA is punishing the essence of Barcelona and punishing a model which FIFA has lauded in recent years. The image of Iniesta, Messi and Xavi Hernández with the Ballón d'Or springs to mind. La Masía is not to be touched," he finished by saying.
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