Partizan Faces Tobol Without New Signings Over FIFA Debt Ban
Idris Baba arrived in Belgrade and passed his medical, but was not registered for the Tobol double header. Behind the missed deadline is a FIFA registration ban tied to a debt owed to a former scout.
Idris Baba was already in Belgrade by Wednesday afternoon. His medical was done, terms with Spanish side Almeria and with the player himself were settled, and only the paperwork remained. UEFA’s deadline for registering players for the third round of Conference League qualifying expired at 6 p.m., and by then the defensive midfielder’s documentation had still not been submitted.
That is why Partizan host Kazakhstan’s Tobol at Humska tonight without a single new name in the squad list. The return leg is on August 13, away from home.
Why Baba could not be registered
The club from Humska is under a player registration ban imposed by FIFA. The creditor is Marcelo dos Santos Cipriano, a former scout from Brazil, and the debt dates back to 2023. Since then it has grown to roughly 140,000 euros:
- about 111,000 euros in principal
- about 11,000 euros in interest
- 3,000 euros in penalties
Until that bill is settled, the black and whites cannot add a single new name to the roster. Baba signed with the club, flew in, passed his medical, and still missed out on the very match he was brought in for.
A few days ago we reported that Partizan was racing the clock on three summer signings. That deadline has now passed, and the list looks exactly as it did before: besides Baba, neither Nikola Cumic nor Igor Miladinovic are registered to face the Kazakh side either.
What Ljajic says
Rasim Ljajic, head of the club’s caretaker board, gave a short answer when asked how Partizan plans to resolve the case.
“We will pay, there is no other way…”
The payment is expected on Monday, which would automatically lift the ban. Ljajic also pointed out that this is not the first time this summer the club has had to close a gap in its paperwork.
“We got through the June monitoring without any trouble and settled a debt of 1.6 million euros. All on time! We move forward, and on Monday we will resolve this case too. We will make sure future signings get registered on time. We fight in whatever way we know how.”
That 1.6 million euro figure from June shows just how much bigger the administrative burden has been compared with the sum now holding up Baba. This marks the second European season in a row that Partizan has opened under a FIFA suspension, the same scenario a year apart, only with a different creditor.
What Ilic has to work with against Tobol
Coach Sasa Ilic takes on the Kazakh side with the same squad he had going into summer. Midfield was the area where reinforcements were most needed, and it is exactly there that the club failed to add anything new before a double header that decides whether the season continues in Europe or shrinks down to the SuperLiga alone.
With no new arrivals, the load falls on the players already in the squad, and the pace of qualifying rounds leaves no room for experiments. The first leg is at home, and that is the only factor working in Partizan’s favor.
When Baba can make his debut
The player’s arrival itself is not in doubt, only the deadline tied to European fixtures was missed. His earliest possible debut is August 16 against Radnicki Kragujevac in the SuperLiga. Should the black and whites eliminate Tobol, Baba could still be registered for the Conference League play-off round.
All of this means the story of the ban will not be closed on Monday. What remains is the impression of a club that greets every transfer window with an unpaid bill from the period before, where signings end up chosen not by who is best but by who is even allowed to be registered. Tonight at Humska, it is Ilic paying that price, with a squad list he wanted to change.
