1. FC Cologne has been given a sad reality check. They will not be allowed to sign any players for two transfer periods. These are the exceptions.
Thursday will go down in the history of Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Cologne as Black Thursday. First, the dismissal of coach Steffen Baumgart after an abysmal first half of the season.
Then the confirmation from Cas (international sports court) that the FC is not allowed to sign any external players for two transfer periods.
What does this mean for 1. FC Köln? First of all, nothing will happen in winter. The center forward and defensive midfielder they were looking for will not be able to join the team.
On the departure side, however, something could happen. Because even without new arrivals, Noah Katterbach (contract ends in the summer, HSV are said to be interested), Dimitrios Limnios (contract ends in the summer) and Sargis Adamyan (contract until 2026, to be loaned out) will not play.
In the summer, a lot depends on whether the club stays in the league or not. If it manages to avoid relegation, it can certainly keep most of the team. This does not apply in the event of relegation. Then key players like Jeff Chabot, Eric Martel or Dejan Ljubicic would be impossible to keep, and the club would also be dependent on the transfer fees due to the lower income in the 2nd Bundesliga.
What is not known in the event of relegation: Which player has a contract for the 2nd Bundesliga? And which player might have a release clause in the event of relegation?
But much more important is the question: Who can 1. FC Cologne take on new players? In general, Cologne can sign external players, but they are not allowed to be registered for match operations.
However, there are exceptions:
1. Players currently on loan from the FC
The players who return to the FC after the season are allowed to play for Cologne in the new season because they were already registered there.
This currently affects four players. Accordingly, Jonas Urbig (on loan at Greuther Fürth), Tim Lemperle (on loan at Greuther Fürth), Nikola Soldo (on loan at 1. FC Kaiserslautern), Marvin Obuz (on loan at Rot-Weiss Essen) and Maximilian Schmid (at Roda Kerkrade) would be allowed to play for Cologne in the 2024/25 season.
2. Players currently on loan from FC
The players who are currently on loan may also be signed. This is because they are already registered for Cologne. If there are purchase options, the club could exercise them if it had the money to do so. The only question is whether the players would go down to the 2nd division with the club or whether there are clauses whereby the purchase options only apply to the Bundesliga.
If this is not the case, case 2 would apply to the following players: Luca Waldschmidt (on loan from VfL Wolfsburg), Rasmus Carstensen (on loan from KRC Genk) and Faride Alidou (on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt).
3. Expiring contracts of own players
Contracts that expire for Cologne players in the summer can be extended. The same applies here: those who were already registered can continue to play for Cologne. After the season, this affects the expiring contracts of Noah Katterbach, Dimitrios Limnios (should the two not leave in the winter), Philipp Pentke, Dominique Heintz and Benno Schmitz.
4. Youth players
Of course, based on the logic mentioned, talented players are also allowed to receive a professional contract because they were previously registered with the club. However, the U19, U17 and U21 teams are also not allowed to sign external players, because the transfer ban does not only apply to the professional team.
When can the club sign and register new external players?
The ban covers the next two transfer periods. One of them ends on February 1, 2024. The summer transfer period ends either on August 31, 2024 or September 1, 2024. That means that FC would have two transfer periods suspended. And presumably they will be allowed to start again when players without contracts are on the market after September 1, who can also be signed outside of a transfer period. However, journalist Chaled Nahar denied this on the online platform X, stating that FC would not be allowed to sign new players again until January 1, 2025.