Lengthy transfer ban compounds FC Köln's latest struggles | OneFootball

The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed FC Köln will be banned from signing or registering players for both the January and 2024 summer transfer windows.

The Bundesliga club were found guilty of encouraging Slovenian youngster Jaka Cuber Potocnik to break his contract with Olimpija Ljubljana and join them in January 2022.

A statement from the club said: “The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) follows the FIFA Association of Arbitration Court (the so-called Dispute Resolution Chamber) and has confirmed its ruling in connection with the signing of U19 player Jaka Cuber Potocnik, previously from Olimpija Ljubljana, in January 2022. The CAS decision was sent to the FC this Thursday afternoon,”

Managing director Christian Keller later shared his disappointment with the ruling but reassured the club will do their best to plan future squads.

“We would have liked and expected a different verdict,” he said in a statement.

“Accordingly, we are very disappointed that, despite numerous evidence to the contrary, the CAS classified Jaka Potocnik’s termination as not legally effective and at the same time did not see sufficient evidence that 1. FC Köln did not incite this termination.”

“Regardless of this, we now have clarity and the state of limbo that lasted 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.”

The news comes hot on the heels of manager Steffen Baumgart’s departure and with the club sitting in 17th place in the Bundesliga.