Could Botafogo face sporting sanctions over new transfer ban | OneFootball

With three FIFA sanctions accumulated over unpaid transfer debts, Botafogo is going through a tense moment behind the scenes.

The latest sanction, confirmed this Monday (11), has reignited supporters’ fears: does the club really risk losing points or being relegated in the Brazilian Championship because of these defaults?

What FIFA regulations say

The main sanction imposed by world football’s governing body in these cases is a transfer ban, which prevents the club from registering new players.

However, FIFA’s Disciplinary Code does indeed provide for harsher punishments.

According to the regulations, a deduction of points or relegation to a lower division may be applied in cases of “persistent non-compliance.”

In practice, this happens if the club goes through more than three full and consecutive transfer windows without resolving the issue, or in cases of repeated serious violations where the transfer ban no longer has any effect.

Alvinegro’s accumulated debts

The “indefinite-term” punishment received this Monday (11) is a repeat offense.

It refers to the failure to pay the second installment of the agreement with Atlanta United (USA) for the signing of Thiago Almada.

The club had already been punished over the same debt in December 2025 and reached an agreement in February, which was ultimately not honored.

In addition to the Almada case, Botafogo is carrying two other recent bans:

Is there a risk of losing points?

To answer the question simply, yes!

A club can be punished with a points deduction or even relegation, but that does not happen immediately.

For Botafogo to suffer these more extreme punishments, the case must become one of “persistent non-compliance.”

According to FIFA rules, this means the club must remain punished for more than three consecutive transfer windows (without paying the debt).

In short, the situation is this:

If the club settles the debt or secures a validated agreement before that long deadline, it will be freed from the transfer ban and eliminate any risk of losing points or dropping a division.

Defense strategy

The Rio club is trying to use the ordinary courts to halt the sporting sanctions.

Botafogo has requested that FIFA’s punishments be submitted to a precautionary measure preceding its Judicial Recovery process (RJ).

The logic of the black-and-white SAF is that, under the umbrella of Judicial Recovery, creditor enforcement actions are frozen and debts must be renegotiated collectively within this legal framework.

The major obstacle for Botafogo is that transfer bans imposed before the formalization of this Judicial Recovery process, as in the cases of Atlanta United and Ludogorets, are not covered by FIFA’s freeze and must be paid normally for the ban on registering players to be lifted.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

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