According to the current situation, 1. FC Köln will not be allowed to sign any new players for a year. The case is reminiscent of FC Nantes, who unsuccessfully defended themselves against the penalty – but remained on track in terms of sport.
1. FC Köln reached the cup final on Sunday (April 2nd, 2023) by beating Hertha BSC on penalties, even without their striker Jaka Čuber Potočnik. A lot more people will know than a week ago that it must be the Cologne U19s – just because of the mention of the name Potočnik.
The case of the 17-year-old Slovenian occupies the club and threatens the sporting goals of the professionals.
“We assume that the verdict will be revised”
FIFA ruled that 1. FC Köln had instigated the player to terminate his contract with his previous club NK Olimpija Ljubljana without a valid reason in order to move from one day to the next (that was actually the case in this case ) to switch to the Bundesliga team.
Potočnik has been banned by FIFA for four months. Far worse for the club: The world association imposed a registration ban for the next two transfer periods. Means: Cologne has practically no chance of signing suitable players in the summer of 2023 and winter 23/24.
The club announced that it would go before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS. “We assume that the verdict will be revised,” said coach Steffen Baumgart on Sunday after the professionals’ 0-0 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
FC Nantes and Ismaël Bangoura
When lawyers are asked how they see FC’s chances before the CAS, there are different views. No one is certain that Baumgart will be right.
Every case is different, and therefore the legal dispute with the parties FIFA, FC Nantes and Al Nasr SC cannot provide any evidence that the Cologne team have to live with the penalty initially imposed. But the parallels are striking.
The case dates back to 2011. It is about the player Ismaël Bangoura, a professional from Guinea who was born in January 1985 and also played for the senior national team of his African home country.
Bangoura joined SC Al Nasr from France’s Stade Rennes in 2010 for a fee of €7m. The sum is documented in a CAS judgment. It also describes in detail what Bangoura and the club from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates argued about in the months that followed.
Employed or unemployed?
In any case, Bangoura thought and claimed that he had extraordinarily but legally terminated the contract with Al Nasr because the club had violated the contents. Among other things, payments should not have been made on time. The club rejected the allegations.
On January 31, 2012, Bangoura signed for FC Nantes. Not allowed, according to FIFA, because there was no good reason to terminate the contract with Al Nasr.
The world association banned the club from registering for two periods in February 2013, just like 1. FC Köln now.
Saving time in court
Nantes applied for temporary legal protection, i.e. suspensive effect, as the Cologne intend. At the same time, the club also sued FIFA before the Swiss Federal Court. This lawsuit was successful because the sentence has since been suspended. In this way, Nantes gained time and signed players, knowing that a CAS ruling could result in a registration ban. That’s how it happened. For the 2014/15 season, the club almost exclusively recruited players from their own second team.
In the summer of 2013, FC Nantes celebrated promotion to Ligue 1 despite the smoldering legal dispute. Since then he has played in the top French league without a break and even won the cup in 2022. “We had the sentence hanging over our heads for two years and, to be honest, we had long been convinced that it would not be lifted, so we organized ourselves accordingly.”said Nantes’ managing director Franck Kita in spring 2014.
Healing effect
The CAS verdict, which confirmed the tough FIFA penalty, had no negative sporting consequences. Observers from Nantes even believe that the registration ban would have had a healing effect. The club was forced to train players from its own academy and integrate them into the professional team. One of them was Amine Harit, who brought the club eight million euros when he was signed by FC Schalke 04 in 2017.
Each case is different. But a little reassurance for 1. FC Köln should be that the club’s U19s are currently extremely successful. After reaching the cup final, the first leg in the semifinals of the German championship against 1. FSV Mainz 05 is on Sunday (April 9th, 2023) – without Jaka Čuber Potočnik.