1. FC Köln has suffered a painful defeat in the legal dispute with Olimpija Ljubljana and is now not allowed to register any new players for a year. According to the club The International Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed the transfer ban against the Bundesliga club, which had previously been imposed by the world football association Fifa.
The background is the signing of youth player Jaka Cuber Potocnik in January 2022. His former club Olimpija Ljubljana accused the Cologne team of inciting the then 16-year-old Potocnik to change and defended themselves against this with Fifa. The club originally wanted a transfer fee of 2.5 million euros and around 70,000 euros in damages. On February 1, 2023, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber found 1. FC Cologne guilty of unjustified breach of contract and incitement to breach of contract.
The player was also supposed to pay 51,750 euros to Potocnik’s former Slovenian club – with FC jointly liable. The Cas has now increased the amount to be paid to 60,000 euros in its judgment published on Thursday. Young hopeful Potocnik will also be suspended for four months. The Cologne-based company appealed against this ruling to the Cas, whereupon the Fifa ruling was initially suspended in May.
“Although 1. FC Cologne presented extensive arguments against the FIFA decision and the FC’s presentation of the facts was confirmed by numerous witnesses at the oral hearing, the Cas has now finally decided against 1. FC Cologne and Jaka Cuber Potocnik,” said the Bundesliga club.
Managing director Christian Keller was disappointed; they had wanted and expected a different verdict. “Regardless of this, we now have clarity and the state of limbo that lasted for several months is finally over. We have always said that we have always taken the transfer ban scenario into account and will plan our squad accordingly until the end of the now fixed ban,” explained Keller.
A few hours before the verdict, the club, which was threatened with relegation, parted ways with coach Steffen Baumgart. With just ten points from 16 games, the Rhinelanders are only in 17th place in the Bundesliga at the end of the year.
It is not yet clear who will succeed Baumgart. What is certain is that the Cologne team will not be able to strengthen their team in the upcoming transfer periods in winter and summer. Given the weak squad, these are not good prospects.