Varga clear for Hoops debut

Celtic announced tonight that the red-tape preventing new signing Stanislav Varga from making his debut had finally been broken.

The Scottish Football Association have received his International Registration Transfer Certificate from their English counterparts and is now proceeding to register the player.

A Celtic spokesman confirmed: “The Varga situation has been cleared up to a certain extent.

“I believe that the SFA have received the documents from the FA and are now in the process of registering the player.”

The Slovakian defender is now in line to make his debut against St Johnstone in the Tennent’s Scottish Cup on Sunday.

He put pen to paper to a short-term contract, until at least the end of the season, last week.

But the FA refused to issue the International Registration Transfer Certificate required by the SFA to enable the former Sunderland central defender to register as a Celtic player.

The SFA asked FIFA to intervene and instruct the English FA to issue the ITC in accordance with FIFA regulations.