diff --git a/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/Operator.java b/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/Operator.java
index 9bcd72673d..fa9f1a93bb 100644
--- a/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/Operator.java
+++ b/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/Operator.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Objects;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -137,13 +138,39 @@ public <R extends CustomResource> void register(
       controller.init(eventSourceManager);
       closeables.add(eventSourceManager);
 
+      if (failOnMissingCurrentNS(configuration)) {
+        throw new OperatorException(
+            "Controller '"
+                + controllerName
+                + "' is configured to watch the current namespace but it couldn't be inferred from the current configuration.");
+      }
+
+      final var watchedNS =
+          configuration.watchAllNamespaces()
+              ? "[all namespaces]"
+              : configuration.getEffectiveNamespaces();
       log.info(
           "Registered Controller: '{}' for CRD: '{}' for namespace(s): {}",
           controllerName,
           resClass,
-          configuration.watchAllNamespaces()
-              ? "[all namespaces]"
-              : configuration.getEffectiveNamespaces());
+          watchedNS);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Determines whether we should fail because the current namespace is request as target namespace
+   * but is missing
+   *
+   * @return {@code true} if the current namespace is requested but is missing, {@code false}
+   *     otherwise
+   */
+  private static <R extends CustomResource> boolean failOnMissingCurrentNS(
+      ControllerConfiguration<R> configuration) {
+    if (configuration.watchCurrentNamespace()) {
+      final var effectiveNamespaces = configuration.getEffectiveNamespaces();
+      return effectiveNamespaces.size() == 1
+          && effectiveNamespaces.stream().allMatch(Objects::isNull);
     }
+    return false;
   }
 }
diff --git a/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/api/config/ControllerConfiguration.java b/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/api/config/ControllerConfiguration.java
index b487f2af5f..95555c511d 100644
--- a/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/api/config/ControllerConfiguration.java
+++ b/operator-framework-core/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/api/config/ControllerConfiguration.java
@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ static boolean currentNamespaceWatched(Set<String> namespaces) {
         && namespaces.contains(Controller.WATCH_CURRENT_NAMESPACE);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Computes the effective namespaces based on the set specified by the user, in particular
+   * retrieves the current namespace from the client when the user specified that they wanted to
+   * watch the current namespace only.
+   *
+   * @return a Set of namespace names the associated controller will watch
+   */
   default Set<String> getEffectiveNamespaces() {
     var targetNamespaces = getNamespaces();
     if (watchCurrentNamespace()) {