Aris hit with one-year transfer ban by FIFA
FIFA has issued Aris a one-year transfer ban, while also punishing the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) with a hefty fine.
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Aris find themselves in muddy waters. In January, FIFA imposed a transfer ban on the Thessaloniki-based club as a result of outstanding debts, but it was supposedly removed after the organisation made payments to the former players in question. However, on Friday evening, it was subsequently confirmed that FIFA has now decided to ban Aris from signing any players in the next two transfer windows as a consequence of loaning Fjorin Durmishaj from Olympiacos in the winter. This effectively means that Aris can’t sign players until the summer of 2021.
Durmishaj, 23, made eight appearances for Aris in the second half of the 2019/2020 campaign.
FIFA stated that the transfer of Durmishaj was illegal because the previous ban was still in place. Aris owed a combined total of 1.2 million euros to Diogo Siston, Cristian Portilla and Javier Umbides.
The EPO has also been fined a grand total of 480,000 euros as a punishment for registering Durmishaj’s move to Aris.
Aris will now have the opportunity to submit an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Naturally, the ban creates a huge problem for ambitious Aris, with the contracts of several key players set to expire in June. In the Super League regular season, Aris managed to qualify for the championship playoffs, earning 34 points from 26 matches to finish in sixth position of the standings.
