Bundesliga club takes action
Cologne coach has to go – whoever takes over now
Updated March 22, 2026 – 7:14 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Cologne’s sports director avoided making a commitment to the coach after the derby on Saturday. One day now the club announces its release.
1. FC Köln has parted ways with its head coach Lukas Kwasniok with immediate effect. One day after the spectacular 3-3 draw in the derby against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the club confirmed what had already been indicated after the game. “Bild” and “Express” had previously reported.
When asked, Cologne’s sports director Thomas Kessler avoided making a clear commitment to his coach. On Sunday, the managing director explained: “On Sunday we looked very intensively at our current situation and came to the decision to provide impetus for the final phase of the season in the head coach position.”
Kessler continued: “Despite passionate and decent performances, there has recently been a clear downward trend in our development. We didn’t score enough points – that’s the reality. Against this background, after intensive analysis, we came to the decision to release Lukas.”
Cologne is currently in 15th place in the Bundesliga with 26 points, but has only won two of the last 18 games. The Bundesliga newcomer was seventh on matchday nine, had 14 points and had little to do with the relegation battle. Since then, however, things have steadily gone downhill.
At the beginning of March, “Sport Bild” reported that Kwasniok would have to get at least four points from the next three games in order to keep his job. This was followed by a defeat against BVB, a draw against HSV and now a draw in the derby against arch-rivals Gladbach. This means Cologne has been without a win for seven games – and Kwasniok has lost his job.
Assistant coach René Wagner will take over the position for the time being. The 37-year-old came to Cologne in the summer after working for years alongside Steffen Baumgart in Paderborn, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin.
