1. FC Köln was formed in 1948 through the merger of Kölner BC 01 and SpVgg Sülz 07, two successful local sides. It was a founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963 and was crowned its inaugural championsthe following year. The club enjoyed golden eras in the 1960s and 1980s, winning three national championships and four DFB-Pokal titles; this includes the inaugural Bundesliga anda domestic double in 1978. After a decline beginning in the 1990s, Köln became known asyo-yo club due to frequent promotions and relegations between the top two tiers. A resurgence in the 2010s brought European qualification and financial stability, but recent seasons have been marked by relegation struggles.
The club is nicknamedDie Geißböcke (TheBilly Goats) in reference to itsmascot, a male goat namedHennes after veteran Köln player and managerHennes Weisweiler. The firstHennes was donated by a circus entrepreneur as aCologne carnival joke. The current mascot isHennes IX as of 1 August 2019[update] after Hennes VIII was retired by the club due to old age.[5] Another nickname for the club, more common locally due to its ambiguity, isFC (often written asEffzeh), a common German abbreviation for football clubs. Characteristic for thedialect spoken around Cologne, this is pronounced "EF-tsay", in contrast to theStandard German pronunciation of the abbreviation where the second syllable is emphasized ([ʔɛfˈtseː]).
Köln play at home in white and red, both colours having been used as the main shirt colour throughout its history. The club's longest-standing and fiercest rivalry is withBorussia Mönchengladbach, against whom they contest theRhine derby. Although Mönchengladbach is not located along the Rhine, both clubs are based in theRhineland cultural region. Köln also shares rivalries with two other Rhineland-based clubs:Fortuna Düsseldorf andBayer Leverkusen.
Like many of Germany's other professional football clubs, 1. FC Köln is part of a larger sports club with teams in other sports likehandball,table tennis andgymnastics. 1. FC Köln has over 150,000 members, making it the fourth largest club in Germany.[6]
Kölner BC was formed on 6 June 1901 by a group of young men who were unhappy as part of thegymnastics club FC Borussia Köln and were more interested in football. BC participated in the Zehnerliga West in the years beforeWorld War I and took theWestdeutsche championship in 1912 and advanced to the preliminary rounds of thenational finals. Their next best result was in the 1920 league final, where they lost 1–3 toBorussia Mönchengladbach.
Spielvereinigung 1907 Köln-Sülz was established in 1907 as Sülzer Sportverein and on 1 January 1919 merged with Fußball Club 1908 Hertha Sülz to form SpVgg. They won the Westdeutscher title in 1928, but lost in the early rounds of thenational finals. They went on to play as a top flight club in theGauliga Mittelrhein, one of sixteen premier level divisions established in 1933 in the reorganization of German football under theThird Reich. After winning a divisional championship in 1939, – they then entered a period of decline in the early 1940s. After the 1941 season, the Gauliga Mittlerhein was split into two new divisions: theGauliga Köln-Aachen and theGauliga Moselland, which included clubs from occupied Luxembourg. Sülz struggled until they were united withVfL Köln 1899 for the 1943–44 season, to form the combined wartime side Kriegspielgemeinschaft VfL 99/Sülz 07, which would end up winning the Gauliga Köln-Aachen title by a single point over SG Düren 99 in a close race. The club did not play the next campaign as war overtook the region.
After the union of these two predecessor sides (1948), 1. FC Köln began play in theOberliga West in the1949–50 season, and, by1953–54, had won their first divisional championship. In 1954, they lost theDFB-Pokal final 1–0 toVfB Stuttgart.Die Geißböcke won their second Oberliga West title in1959–60, and appeared in thenational final againstHamburger SV, where they lost 3–2. Köln also finished first in the Oberliga West from1960–61 to1962–63.[7] They won the1962 German championship final 4–0 against1. FC Nürnberg, becomingGerman champions for the first time, and qualified for the1962–63 European Cup, where they were one of the favourites to win the trophy. In the first round, Köln visitedDundee of Scotland and lost 8–1, and despite winning the second leg back in Germany by 4–0, they were eliminated from the tournament. In the following year's German championship final, theylost 3–1 toBorussia Dortmund.
In 1963, FC Köln became one of the 16 founder members of theBundesliga, Germany's new professional football league. Köln continued their winning ways by becoming the firstBundesliga champion, in the league's inaugural1963–64 season. As German champions, Köln entered the1964–65 European Cup, where it met England'sLiverpool at the quarter-final stage. After two 0–0 draws, a third game was played which was also a stalemate, this time 2–2. As thepenalty shootout had not yet been introduced as the means of deciding a tie, Köln went out of the competition on thetoss of a coin. Ironically enough, there was the need for a second coin toss because the first time the coin stuck vertically in the ground. Köln also became the first Bundesliga side to field a Brazilian player, when it signedZézé fromMadureira for a then club record fee ofDM 150,000.[8] Domestically, Köln recorded a second-place finish in the1964–65 Bundesliga season and won its firstDFB-Pokal in1967–68.
At the start of the 1970s, Köln reached three DFB-Pokal finals in four seasons, losing all three; toKickers Offenbach in1970,Bayern Munich in1971 andBorussia Mönchengladbach in1973. The team also achieved another second place Bundesliga finish in1973, before reaching another DFB-Pokal final in1977, beatingHertha BSC over two legs to win the trophy for the second time.
Köln had another losing DFB-Pokal final appearance in1980, before winning the competition for a fourth time in1983. In 1986, the club appeared in its first European final, losing 5–3 on aggregate toReal Madrid in theUEFA Cup Final. Two second place Bundesliga finishes, in1988–89 and1989–90, and another DFB-Pokal final loss in1991, marked the end of a successful thirty-year spell for Köln.
In the early years of the Bundesliga, 1. FC Köln was the most successful Bundesliga club in terms of total points won. Beginning in the early 1990s, however, the club's performance declined, and in1998 it was relegated for the first time. The side became a "yo-yo team", moving between the first and second divisions: they went up or down each season between2001–02 and2005–06. During this period, the FC also set the record for the longest goalless streak in Bundesliga history in the 2001–02 season, with 1034 minutes (equivalent to 11-and-a-half games) untilThomas Cichon scored.[9]
In late 2006, former coachChristoph Daum returned to Köln, and succeeded in leading the club back to the Bundesliga in 2008. After asuring Köln's Bundesliga status in the 2008–09 campaign, Daum left Köln for his former clubFenerbahçe. Köln's former star-strikerLukas Podolski returned for the2009–10 season.
The club was relegated at the end of the2011–12 season, finishing in 17th place, having accumulated €33m debt, and €11mnegative equity.[10]
In April 2012, the club members elected a new board of directors, Werner Spinner as president, Markus Ritterbach for marketing, andToni Schumacher for sport. In the2012–13 season, under new trainerHolger Stanislawski, Köln finished in fifth place in the2. Bundesliga, missing out on promotion back to the top division.
In 2012 the board hired Jörg Jakobs as director of football, who then got promoted in 2014 to sporting director, chief scout and director of the academy.[11][12] In January 2013,Alexander Wehrle joined as managing director of Köln. Wehrle was working as assistant forVfB Stuttgart president Erwin Staudt, especially for rebuilding the stadium.[13] In summer 2013,Peter Stöger and Manfred Schmid were hired as coaching team, and Jörg Schmadtke as general manager. In2013–14, Köln finished first in the 2. Bundesliga and earned promotion to the top division. It was followed by a 12th place2014–15, ninth in2015–16, and a fifth place in2016–17, which saw them qualify for the2017–18 UEFA Europa League, their first European campaign in 25 years. After restructuring and repaying debt, equity turned from €11m negative to €20m positive. The turnover increased from €56m in 2012–13 to more than €120m in 2016–17.[10][14][15]
After the club's return the European stage, fortunes quickly changed. The team experienced an unsuccessful start to the2017–18 Bundesliga season gaining only three points from its first sixteen matches. At the same time, the club's Europa League campaign ended in the group stage.[16] This downtrend led to the resignation ofJörg Schmadtke[17] and Stöger's dismissal in December 2017; he was replaced byStefan Ruthenbeck, who was appointed as caretaker manager.[18] In spite of an improved record in the second half of the season, the team finished last and were relegated to2. Bundesliga at the end of the year.
1. FC Köln in 2021
Ahead of the2018–19 season,Markus Anfang was appointed manager.[19] While the club occupied the league's top spot for much of the season, Anfang was dismissed after a winless streak in April 2019.[20] Only a week later, with André Pawlak having taken over as Anfang's successor, the team achieved promotion at first attempt with a 4–0 victory overGreuther Fürth.[21] Following an unsuccessful start to the2019–20 season, which included a 3–2 cup defeat against1. FC Saarbrücken, the club decided to terminateAchim Beierlorzer's contract on 9 November 2019.[22] Sporting directorArmin Veh, who weeks earlier had announced that he would not extend his contract with the club, was also dismissed from his position.[23] On 18 November, formerHSV managerMarkus Gisdol was appointed to the club's head coaching position, whileHorst Heldt was made sporting director.[24] Under Gisdol, the team avoided relegation at the end of the season.[25]
During the majority of the2020–21 season, Köln was involved in a relegation battle and occupied one of the bottom three places in the division. On 11 April 2021, after losing to relegation rivalMainz 05, Gisdol was dismissed from his position as head coach.[26] The next day, the club presentedFriedhelm Funkel as an interim coach who would take over head coaching duties until the end of the season.[27] Funkel's side facedHolstein Kiel in the relegation playoffs. After losing 1–0 at home, his team recorded a 5–1 away win, enabling the club to retain its position in the Bundesliga.[28]
In March 2023, during the second half of the2022–23 campaign, Köln were put under a two-window transfer embargo byFIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber, having been found guilty of inducing a breach of contract withoutjust cause while signingJaka Čuber Potočnik fromOlimpija Ljubljana in January 2022.[29][30] As part of the same verdict, the club was also sentenced to pay Ljubljana a€51,750 compensation, in addition to training costs.[29][30] Köln appealed the decision at theCourt of Arbitration for Sport inLausanne, which affirmed the embargo imposed by FIFA.[29][30]
In the2023–24 Bundesliga season, Köln were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing second bottom on the table,[31] but they immediately returned toBundesliga in the next season.[32][33][34][35]
The team plays its home matches in theMüngersdorfer Stadion, also known as the RheinEnergie Stadion for sponsorship purposes. It has a capacity of around 50,000 and had an average attendance of 48,676 in the 2015–16 season.[36] The stadium sponsorship comes from a contract with the local power supplier RheinEnergie AG. However, most fans still call the stadium "Müngersdorfer Stadion", named after the suburb ofMüngersdorf, where it is located.
The club owns theGeißbockheim training centre, known asRheinEnergieSportpark for sponsorship, located inSülz, which is a municipal part of Köln in the southwest of the city. The centre is home to theFranz-Kremer-Stadion the home of1. FC Köln II.
Graffiti in Cologne referencing the badges of 1. FC Köln's three primary rivals
The club's longest-standing and fiercest rivalry is withBorussia Mönchengladbach, against whom they contest theRhine derby. Although Mönchengladbach is not located along the Rhine, both clubs are based in theRhineland cultural region. Köln also has rivalries with two other Rhineland-based clubs:Fortuna Düsseldorf andBayer Leverkusen.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The women's team was promoted to theBundesliga in 2015.[77] They were directly relegated back to the2. Frauen-Bundesliga after the2016–17 season ended, but managed to regain promotion in May 2017 to the Bundesliga.[78][79]
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