FIFA has banned Serie A club Spezia for two years following its breach of Italy’s immigration laws in recruiting Nigerian minors into Italy.
As part of the ban, the club must also pay a fine of 500,000 Swiss francs (£394,000) and is prohibited from signing new players for the next four transfer windows. For their roles in the scheme, USD Lavagnese 1919 and Valdivara 5 Terre, two lower-tier Italian clubs were each fined 4,000 Swiss francs (£3,150).
Spezia was reportedly purchased in February by US investors and recently hired former Italy midfielder, Thiago Motto, as their new manager. Spezia competed in the Italian top flight for the first time last season
“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee found that Spezia Calcio had breached article 19 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) by bringing several Nigerian minors into Italy using a scheme aimed at circumventing the aforesaid RSTP article as well as national immigration law,” a FIFA statement read.
“The protection of minors is a key objective of the regulatory framework governing the football transfer system.”
While it is unclear how many Nigerian players Spezia signed between 2013 and 2018, the alleged irregularities take place between these years. A similar ban has been issued by FIFA before. Following a FIFA investigation into 29 minor players, Chelsea was banned from two transfer windows last year for violation of article 19
