Mark Uth thinks about a career end. The offensive player of 1st FC Köln leaves his future open beyond the end of the season.
It was just under a year and a half that Mark Uth played for 1. FC Köln in a competitive game. It would almost have been that far on Friday evening; Some teammates already had the jubilant cry on their lips when Uth Freuh Freuther Fürth’s goalkeeper Nahuel Noll came to an end. But Noll did not allow the Cologne veteran, who had been bought by injuries for three seasons, this special moment, Fürth saved the 1-1 draw with a gloss.
“It was a 100 percent chance that I would have liked to do,” Uth is annoyed in retrospect, although he reports: “I looked at the scene a few more times and afterwards I would have acted again: long corner, shot for a short corner. The goalkeeper just kept well.”
Despite the missed winning goal, the away game in Fürth was an important progress for Uth. Gerhard Struber changed him after 62 minutes, so that the offensive player has completed his longest competitive game since May 2024. In the previous course of the season, UTH was only 40 minutes of play due to a new injury setback, most recently in January due to a muscle fiber tear in the calf – spread over six second division.
“Now I feel more stable and hope that the last games stay that way,” says Uth, wants to finally be constant in the hot phase of the promotion race. “I feel physically good,” says the ex-sesson optimistically. Half an hour in Fürth, he “kept out quite well,” says Uth and pushes: “That definitely makes you want more.”
However, it is open whether the 33-year-old still wants to continue his career after his constant fight against his own body-with injuries in the groin, in the knee and in the thigh. In the event of the ascent, Uth’s expiring contract should be extended. When asked whether he would like to continue playing, the Cologne -born said honestly: “I have not quite decided yet – I don’t know yet. First of all, I want to wait for the next three or five weeks. Then we decide that together.”
With sports director Christian Keller there has already been “a very good conversation” about the future. It won’t remain the last. “We will sit down again in the next three or four weeks and discuss everything else,” announced Uth.
A crucial question is certainly whether the ex-international can actually be constantly involved in the hot phase of the season or suffers a setback again. “In any case, it is a factor of how the body feels, whether all of this remains stable,” says Uth himself that every further injury would question the meaningfulness of a contract extension.
The fact is at the moment that a club other than the FC is no longer an option – and he absolutely wants to return to the Bundesliga with the “billy goats”. “We only have one goal, that is the climb. We have to get all the strength out of ourselves,” says the crowd favorite and promises: “I’m hot as a frit fat.”