Cologne cannot bring in players, all because of the transfer of a young Slovenian striker.
They played with Partizan in Europe this season, and just a few months later they are in huge trouble! Cologne is currently 13th in the Bundesliga table and fighting for survival, and now comes the news that the “Goats” will be banned from bringing in players!
As reported by “Kiker”, an investigation has been launched due to irregularities in the transfer of Slovenian forward Jake Cuber. At the time of his transfer to Cologne, the young striker terminated his contract with Olimpija Ljubljana, and then as a 16-year-old, he transferred to Cologne as a free agent. Because of this, the Slovenian club was left without compensation, and after it was established that all this was done illegally, the German club and the Slovenian player were fined.
Cologne have been banned from bringing in players in the next two transfer windows, so they will remain without reinforcements for the entire 2023/24 season, while Jaka Cuber was punished with a four-month suspension. Cologne will also have to pay 54,000 euros to Olympia, but the “Goats” have the right to appeal to CAS, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. The deadline for that is 21 days.
If their suspension is not lifted, they will only have the chance to extend the contracts of their players and they can promote players from the youth team for the next season.