World football organization, Federation International Football Association (FIFA), has banned Serie A team, Spezia Calcio, after transferring and registering Nigerian minors.
It was reported that the team which just entered the Serie A league competition last season brought in thirteen (13) Nigerian minors illegally between 2013-2017. One of them includes a Nigerian youth international called Umar Sadiq (16 years old) who arrived in Italy in 2013 before being sold in 2016 to Roma. The team made a profit of about $3 million.
All the 13 players were not of legal age (18) when brought into the country, therefore, disobeying the rules of FIFA in regards to the movement of minors to foreign countries. Spezia Calcio has been banned by FIFA officials for two years; becoming the first team to receive such a heavy ban in that regard.
”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,
”The FIFA Disciplinary Committee took into account that Spezia Calcio accepted responsibility for its serious regulatory violations, and imposed a registration ban… for four registration period and a fine of 500,000 Swiss (US$544,000),” FIFA said.
