The clock is ticking: The summer transfer window closes on Monday
Cologne - The 36 Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs have until 18:00 CEST on 31 August to get any last-minute transfers over the line. That is when the 2015/16 season’s first major transfer window slams shut and clubs from Germany’s licensed leagues are no longer permitted to sign players.
Central database
The final day of the transfer window is usually a hectic affair, with many sides trying desperately to add one or two more players to to their squads before the window closes. As of this summer, the whole process will be made a whole lot easier by the Transfer Online Registration System (TOR), which was introduced by the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH on 1 July. Player registrations, applications to register players and the transfers themselves now take place via this new system. Documents pertaining to the transfer of a player from one club to another no longer have to be sent or faxed to the DFL.
As a result, the DFL’s official transfer list is now redundant. Previously, every player looking to move to another club had to be listed here by 12:00 CEST on the final day of the window (either 31 August or 31 January). Now, all the relevant documents must be entered into the new system by 18:00 CEST.
A club wishing to sign a player must enter all the transfer details into a web application and upload the necessary documents to TOR. This way, all these details are collated on a central database, can be examined by the DFL at will and are always accessible to the club in question. To reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings regarding a certain deadline, a timer is displayed on the DFL server counting down to the end of the transfer window.
When Monday’s deadline has passed, Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs cannot sign anymore players until the January transfer window opens. However, Bundesliga players can still sign for clubs in foreign leagues as long as that country’s transfer window remains open. In Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, for instance, the transfer window closes at 23:59 CEST on 31 August. In England it closes at 19:00 CEST on 1 September, while Italian clubs can sign players until 23:00 CEST on 1 September.
There is, of course, an exception to the rule: Players who are out of contract can join a new club any time until the end of the second major transfer window on 31 January.
