SPORTS: Real Madrid transfer ban: Why Zinedine Zidane's four sons hold the key to overturning Fifa's ruling

Real Madrid are hopeful that the four sons of head coach Zinedine Zidane could be the key to avoiding the transfer ban imposed by Fifa on Thursday that will prevent them from making any news signings until summer 2017 following the current transfer window.

Along with city rivals Atletico Madrid, Real have been punished after they were said to have broken Fifa’s regulations on the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18, with all four of Zidane’s sons included as part of the rule breach.

However, Real’s director general, Jose Angel Sanchez, has argued that they are actually an example of why the club are not guilty of the regulation breach.

Players under the age of 18 cannot complete an international transfer unless one of three exceptions is met. If a player’s parents are moving to the country of the new club for reasons other than football, the player in question is aged between 16 and 18 and the move is between two clubs in European Union nations or the player lives within 50km of the border to the country they are moving to, the transfer will be sanctioned by Fifa.

But Real argue that due to Zidane’s wife, Véronique, being of Spanish descent, all four of the boys hold Spanish citizenship and are qualified to move to and play for Real.

Furthermore, another transfer investigated by the Spanish Football Association [RFEF] was that of former Real defender Ezequiel Garay’s younger brother, who is also believed to hold Spanish citizenship.

A statement on Real’s website confirmed their intention to appeal, with Atleico already making their own appeal process public earlier in the day. Sanchez labelled Fifa’s decision as "totally unexpected" and "absolutely unjustified", and explained why the Madrid club believe they are innocent.

"The arguments given are so flawed that they've resulted in the club being sanctioned over the coach's sons.

"The case of the Zidane family or that of (former Real player Ezequiel) Garay's brother are well known and are an example of how absurd this is. I can assure you that the other cases are the same."