Zinedine Zidane’s sons have been correctly registered by Real Madrid with the RFEF, according to club director general Jose Angel Sanchez. FIFA had investigated the signings of two of Zidane’s four sons in the 39 transfers that caused the club to come under FIFA’s scanner, ultimately resulting in a transfer ban.
However, Sanchez maintained that the registrations were all above board, saying “Two of Zidane's sons have been involved in the sanctions because it is considered that they were processed wrongly. We had requested authorisation for Zidane's sons.”
Sanchez did confirm that the signings of Zidane’s sons were among those investigated by FIFA, but refused to confirm which of Zidane’s sons were involved, saying “The document seems to affect 39 players, but regarding the registering of players, the club has only been sanctioned for eight as I understand. I can't say the names of the eight cases because it is personal information.”
Luca Zidane and Enzo Zidane, aged 20 and 17 respectively, have starred for Real Madrid Castilla with the latter even representing Spain at the U-19 level. Elyaz Zidane Fernandez, aged 10 and Theo Zidane, aged 13, are part of Real Madrid’s boys teams.
Sanctions for underage registering absurd
Sanchez repeatedly called the transfer ban ‘absurd’ in his press conference, opining that FIFA erred in sanctioning Real Madrid for signing Zidane’s sons, saying “The sanction is so absurd and leads to such erroneous statements, such as the sanction for the children of Zidane or the brother of [Ezequiel] Garay.”
The director general of Real Madrid also claimed that a few of the registrations that Real Madrid have been sanctioned for had not even taken place, saying “Of the eight cases that have been put upon us regarding incorrect registrations, there is a case of one player who we did not register because he didn't have the documentation.”
“We considered that he didn't comply with the regulations because he was less than 12 years old. The values of the club are more thorough than those of the regulations.”
Real Madrid have appealed the transfer ban, and are confident of their case being successful, as Sanchez maintains that Real Madrid have followed all proper procedures in registering players with the RFEF, as well as informing the governing body about all of its youth team players being part of their academy.
