Fake Man City offer?
The dispute over footballer Potocnik reveals deep abysses
February 2, 2024, 9:24 p.m
1. FC Köln is not allowed to be active on the transfer market. This is due to the bizarre dispute over the transfer of talent Jaka Potocnik. Now new details about the transfer are coming to light. Both Cologne and Potocnik’s former club Olimpija Ljubljana are not doing well.
The legal dispute between 1. FC Köln and Olimpija Ljubljana provides deep insights into the machinations surrounding player transfers. Apparently, before the then 16-year-old Jaka Potocnik moved to the Bundesliga club, there was a demand within the Slovenian club to create a fake offer from the uninvolved English club Manchester City. The document was intended to artificially increase Potocnik’s value. This emerges from the judgment of the CAS sports court, from which the “Kicker” quotes.
According to the verdict, former Olimpija sporting director Mladen Rudonja claimed in the proceedings “that his successor, Mr Mladen Barisic, had asked him in vain to prepare a false undated offer from Manchester City.” This statement is likely to be an elementary part of the criminal complaint that the FC filed against the Slovenian club in November for attempted fraud. The possible fake offer also puts a big question mark behind the alleged offer of 1.5 million euros that Dinamo Zagreb is said to have made for Potocnik, according to Olimpija. With this sum, Ljubljana justified the interim demand of 2.5 million euros from FC for Potocnik – which Cologne did not accept.
The Bundesliga club did not fare well in the CAS ruling, which confirmed the transfer ban against the club threatened with relegation. Above all, the judges were puzzled by the fact that Cologne had signed the player just one day after his extraordinary contract termination in Ljubljana. According to the verdict, Cologne stated that the player’s situation had been legally analyzed after his termination. The CAS questioned this given the short time. “Cologne was unable to provide evidence (such as clearly stamped emails or reports) for its so-called comprehensive investigation,” it said.
The FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber had already found 1. FC Köln guilty of unjustified breach of contract and incitement to breach of contract on February 1, 2023. The player was also supposed to pay 51,750 euros to Potocnik’s former Slovenian club – with FC jointly liable. In its new judgment, CAS had now increased the amount to be paid to 60,000 euros