FIFA has implemented a transfer ban on Botafogo after the Brazilian club failed to pay Atlanta United for the 2024 transfer of Thiago Almada.

The sanction is listed on FIFA’s registration ban list and came into effect on December 31. It is set to run for three transfer windows but will be lifted if Botafogo pay the Major League Soccer (MLS) club the fee in full.

A FIFA tribunal in February determined that Botafogo had to pay Atlanta the initial $21 million transfer fee, plus the $1.5m in interest accrued, after the first two instalments of the deal between the MLS club and the Brazilian side had gone unpaid.

Botafogo appealed the verdict at a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in October, but in December the club were informed that CAS had upheld the ruling. They were ordered to pay the $22.5m by December 26.

“Maintaining its commitment to transparency with its fans, the club informs that it will continue to take all applicable legal measures in this case,” a Botafogo statement from December 9 read.

Sources briefed on the deal, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, indicated once the initial fee is paid in full, Atlanta will still be owned $9m in performance-based add-ons as well as a sell-on clause that was triggered when Almada was transferred to Atletico Madrid this summer.

Almada, 24, joined Botafago from Atlanta in the summer of 2024 in an MLS-record transfer sale. He scored three goals in 26 appearances before spending the second half of the season on loan at Lyon.

Botafogo and Lyon are owned by Eagle Football Holdings, which is controlled by John Textor. 

Eagle Football had owned a key stake in Crystal Palace, but sold it in the summer after Palace and Lyon qualified for the Europa League. UEFA ultimately ruled to place Palace in the UEFA Conference League instead of the Europa League anyway.

Lyon were provisionally relegated to Ligue 2 in June by the Direction Nationale du Controle de Gestion (DNCG, the body responsible for overseeing the finances of French football clubs) following an audit of their finances. That relegation was overturned and Lyon remained in Ligue 1 this year, but Textor resigned from his role on the club’s leadership board.

Textor and Eagle Football have been interested in acquiring further stakes in European football clubs, having made a bid for Wolverhampton Wanderers and showing interest in Sheffield Wednesday.