In the case of the promising Slovenian forward, who was 17 years old at the time, the German football club Cologne claimed FIFA had banned it from signing new players for the upcoming season as punishment for breaking transfer rules.
In a statement late on Wednesday, Cologne blamed itself for allowing Jaka Cuber Potocnik to break his contract with his home team, Olimpija Ljubljana.
According to Cologne, the club was assessed a fine of 56,100 euros by a FIFA tribunal. Potocnik was restricted from marking new players during the subsequent two exchange windows for a period of four months.
Potocnik left Olimpija for “various breaks of agreement,” as stated in the club’s plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Mediation for Game. The club claims to have evidence that Potocnik did not leave in this manner.
There are no specifics in the case FIFA has taken over.
Potocnik is an outstanding club football player for Germany. After playing for the Slovenian under-19 team, he has scored 13 goals in as many games this season for Cologne in the under-19 league. FIFA has increased its efforts to enforce global rules regarding the signing of players under the age of 18 in the often-competitive international transfer market. After the sanction was reduced from two transfer windows on appeal, Chelsea was subject to a one-window transfer ban in 2019.
Pape Gueye, a midfielder from Senegal, has agreed to join Marseille, a club in France. The prohibition has been questioned. Watford, an English club, asserts that it had a valid agreement to sign Gueye before he left for Marseille.