Ajax forget to register Sebastien Haller for Europa League knockout rounds

Club made the Ivory Coast striker their record signing last month as he joined from West Ham

Ajax striker Sebastien Haller (Getty Images)

Ajax will have to go without record signing Sebastien Haller in the knockout rounds of the Europa League this season after they failed to register the striker for the remaining stages of the competition, Dutch television reported on Thursday.

Broadcaster NOS said the club had made an administrative error, meaning the Ivory Coast international had been left off the additions to their squad for the upcoming rounds.

Neither the Eredivisie nor Uefa immediately responded to queries about the omission of the player, who signed from West Ham for €22.5million last month.

Ajax take on Ligue 1 leaders Lille in the last 32 of the Europa League later this month.

Clubs still competing were permitted to add three more players to their roster by Tuesday's deadline but Ajax included only Oussama Idrissi, who joined on loan from Sevilla last week.

NOS said Ajax had forgotten to put Haller on the player list and were now "investigating all possibilities to correct the error, but the chance that this will succeed is very small".

Registration is done by the clubs themselves who enter the changes into a computerised system at Uefa, have it checked by their home association to confirm all players are eligible, and then the club confirms the final list with European football's governing body.

Ajax were expected to make a statement later on Thursday.

Reuters