Jaka Čuber Potočnik

Jaka Čuber Potočnik's move from Slovenia to Germany came with a legal fight attached: his transfer from NK Olimpija Ljubljana to 1. FC Köln in 2022 ended up before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled that the forward had breached his contract with Olimpija and that Köln had induced that breach. The result was a transfer ban imposed on the German club for two registration periods.

Čuber Potočnik had come through KMN Sevnica, NK Krško and Olimpija Ljubljana's junior sides before switching to Köln's youth setup. He made his senior debut for 1. FC Köln in 2024, though his early football at that level came with the reserve team in the Regionalliga West, where he scored six goals in eleven matches in the 2024/25 season.

He moved to Rot-Weiss Essen on loan for 2025/26, scoring in the 3. Liga and adding two goals in the 2. Bundesliga relegation play-offs against SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Earlier in the season he had returned from a five-match injury lay-off in November 2025 with a header against Ingolstadt.

Essen extended his loan for 2026/27, a move that came alongside a new contract for him at 1. FC Köln in June 2026. At youth international level, Čuber Potočnik has been capped by Slovenia from under-16 through to under-21, scoring ten goals in twelve appearances for the under-17s and eight in sixteen for the under-19s, and by late 2026 featured in UEFA's Under-21 records for European Championship qualifying.