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| Full name | FC Viktoria Köln 1904 e. V. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1 July 1904; 121 years ago (1904-07-01) (asFC Germania Kalk) 22 June 2010; 15 years ago (2010-06-22) (asFC Viktoria Köln) | ||
| Ground | Sportpark Höhenberg | ||
| Capacity | 8,343 | ||
| President | Holger Kirsch | ||
| Head coach | Marian Wilhelm | ||
| League | 3. Liga | ||
| 2024–25 | 3. Liga, 6th of 20 | ||
| Website | www | ||
 Current season | |||
FC Viktoria Köln 1904 e. V., commonly known asViktoria Köln (German pronunciation:[vɪkˈtoːʁi̯akœln]) orViktoria Cologne inEnglish, is a German professionalfootball club based on the right bank of the riverRhine in theHöhenberg district ofCologne,North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the3. Liga, the third tier of German football.
From1978 to1981 Viktoria Köln played in the2. Bundesliga. During this period, the club achieved its best result in the 1979–80 season, finishing 4th.
With the oldest parent club of the "Viktoria", theFC Germania Kalk, founded on the 1st of July 1904 it is one of the oldest football clubs in the city. In 1909Germania merged withFC Kalk, which was founded in 1905, to form theSV Kalk 04 and in 1911 this club was, in turn, united withMülheimer FC to createVfR Mülheim-Kalk 04. The club was renamedVfR Köln 04 rrh. in 1918 after the previously independent towns ofKalk andMülheim were incorporated into Cologne. In 1926 theVfR won its firstWestern German football championship and entry to the1926 German football championship.
After the re-organization of German football in 1933 under theThird Reich into sixteen top flight divisions,VfR played in theGauliga Mittelrhein taking titles there in 1935 and 1937 but then performed poorly at the national level. In 1941 The Gauliga Mittelrhein was split into theGauliga Moselland andGauliga Köln-Aachen, withVfR playing in the latter division. Two years later the club joinedMülheimer SV to play as the combined wartime side (Kriegsspielgemeinschaft)KSG VfR 04 Köln/Mülheimer SV 06.Mülheim had also played in the Gauliga Mittelrhein since 1933 claiming titles of its own in 1934 and 1940, and had similarly poor results at the national level. Play in the Gauliga Köln-Aachen was suspended in the 1944–45 season as Allied armies advanced into Germany at the end of World War II.
After the warVfR Köln resumed playing first division football in the Oberliga West, but lasted only a single season before being relegated. In 1949 the team merged with its wartime partnerMülheimer SV to becomeSC Rapid Köln and played in the2. Oberliga West (II) until falling to third-tier football after 1952.Rapid joined local rivalsSC Preußen Dellbrück formingSC Viktoria 04 Köln in 1957. Of these sides,Preußen Dellbrück was most successful, advancing to the semi-finals of the national championships in 1950 before going out againstKickers Offenbach in a replay of their scoreless first match.
In 1963, the city selected Viktoria as its representative in theFairs Cup, the forerunner of today'sUEFA Cup, but the club was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. The team played as a second and third division side with generally unremarkable results until the 1994 merger withSC Brück that createdSCB Preußen Köln, the new team being named after predecessorPreußen Dellbrück. The new club earned a second-place finish in their division in 2000, but quickly tumbled to theOberliga Nordrhein (IV), even spending one season in fifth divisionVerbandsliga Mittelrhein. The pattern continued after the team was re-christenedSCB Viktoria Köln in 2002. Just two years later, Viktoria was relegated to the Verbandsliga (V). In the 2009/10 season the team was relegated to theLandesliga (VI). The SCB Viktoria filed forinsolvency on 1 August in 2010.
On 22 June 2010, a new club calledFC Viktoria Köln was founded which took over the youth teams of now insolvent SCB Viktoria Köln. Although it was expected that the new club can begin in theLandesliga, where SCB Viktoria had played at last, they were forced by theassociation to start in the lowest league,Kreisliga D. Nonetheless, on 24 February 2011 the members of theFC Viktoria decided to incorporate the spun-off senior football department of FC Junkersdorf into the new club. Junkersdorf became champion of the 2010–11Mittelrheinliga and so FC Viktoria Köln could start in 2011–12 in theNRW-Liga.
Viktoria became champions of the2011–12 NRW-Liga with a one-point lead overSportfreunde Siegen and was also crowned top scorer withMike Wunderlich, who scored 32 goals. The title led to promotion to theRegionalliga West (IV).
On 29 April 2017, Viktoria became champions of the Regionalliga West on match day 31 of the2016–17 season. Viktoria lost the home match in thepromotion round to the3. Liga againstCarl Zeiss Jena 2:3, and although the club managed a 1:0 win inJena, Viktoria missed out on promotion due to theaway goals rule.
In the last home game of the2018–19 Regionalliga West season on 18 May 2019, Viktoria Köln won 1:0 againstBorussia Mönchengladbach II to gain promotion to the 3. Liga.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Inter-Cities Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League:
| Season | Round | Country | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962–63 | 1R |  | Ferencváros | 4–3 | 1–4 | 5–7 |
| Period | Kit manufacturer |
|---|---|
| 1978–1979 | Erima |
| 1979–1992 | Adidas |
| 1993–1998 | Diadora |
| 2001–2002 | Adidas |
| 2002–2004 | Goool.de |
| 2006–2007 | Legea |
| 2007–2008 | soccolonia |
| 2011–2018 | Jako |
| 2018–2021 | Puma[2] |
| 2021–2025 | Capelli Sport |
| 2025– | Joma |
| Period | Sponsor |
|---|---|
| 1984–1990 | Küppers Kölsch |
| 1990–1997 | OVB Holding |
| 1997–2003 | Cologne Bonn Airport |
| 2011–2015 | Cologne Bonn Airport[3] |
| 2015/16 | Otto Conrad FIDUM Bau AG(second half of the season) |
| 2016–2019 | felix1.de |
| 2019–2023 | ETL |
| 2023– | Peynooş |
| Period | Sponsor |
|---|---|
| 2011–2016 | ETL |
| 2016–2019 | None |
| 2019–2020 | Miscanthus Green Power[4] |
| 2020– | Wintec Autoglas |
| Period | Sponsor |
|---|---|
| 2021–2023 | Vereint! (PSD Bank West Foundation) |
| 2023–2025 | ETL |
| 2025– | Oertel & Prümm |
(in German)50°56′46″N7°01′50″E / 50.946169°N 7.030471°E /50.946169; 7.030471
