Botafogo handed transfer ban for failed payment to Atlanta United

FIFA's threatened transfer ban on top Brazilian club Botafogo took effect on Wednesday and could last up to three transfer windows.

The ban will be lifted if Botafogo pays MLS's Atlanta United $22.5 million for the 2024 transfer of Argentine Thiago Almada. The fee was due on December 26.

In February, a FIFA tribunal ruled that the Brazilian club was responsible for the $21 million transfer fee, along with $1.5 million in interest after the first two installments between the two sides went unpaid.

Botafogo appealed that ruling at a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing in October, but the club was notified in December that CAS had upheld FIFA's decision.

Furthermore, sources have indicated that Botafogo will owe the MLS club an additional $9 million from Almada's performance-based incentives and sell-on fees arising from the Argentine's transfer to Spain's Atletico Madrid this summer.

Almada, now 24, scored 23 goals for Atlanta from 2022-24 and earned the 2022 MLS Newcomer of the Year award.

He signed a five-year contract with Botafogo and began competing with the club in 2024. He was loaned to France's Lyon club and competed there during the first half of 2025. Botafogo and Lyon are both owned by Eagle Football Holdings.

Almada is a member of the Argentina national side and competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Botafogo won Brazil's Serie A title and the Copa Libertadores in 2024, but slumped to a sixth-place finish in Serie A in 2025.

--Field Level Media