The journey across the continent can begin: 1. FC Köln are expecting Hungarian club Fehervar for the first leg of the play-offs in the Conference League on Thursday. A dream comes true for the club and the fans.
Of the 1. FC Cologne can take every euro well. Such a professional football team with a good two dozen big earners is expensive these days. Accordingly, the businessmen at Cologne always come up with something new to ask the fans to pay. Latest idea: A special kit for the upcoming play-offs against Hungarian club Fehervar FC, which could take the club to the group stage of the Conference League.
This shirt is already the fourth jersey that FC has put on this season. There were already home and away jerseys, as well as an alternative jersey. And in November – you can be sure of that – the club will again launch its carnival jersey, which is particularly popular with the fans.
German coach at the opponent
Because the new Europe shirt shouldn’t disappear quickly into the depths of the full fan cupboards, there’s a lot at stake in Thursday’s home game against Fehervar. The opponent doesn’t have a big name but could be in a good position. In the first round, the ensemble trained by the German Michael Boris didn’t give the Moldovan representative Petroclub a chance and won twice. In addition, Boris knows FC very well – he comes from the Rhenish region.
Respect yes, fear no. That’s probably how you can describe Steffen Baumgart’s attitude towards the upcoming opponent. Of course, the coach knows very well about the longing of the fans and club employees, who would be only too happy to embark on an extended European tour in the coming weeks.
Baumgart plans rotation
Nevertheless, the Cologne coach is planning a kind of rotation in the squad for the home game. “We know how important the game is, but we also have confidence in our broad squad,” he says. Baumgart’s interplay in the position of right full-back seems almost bizarre. With Kingsley Schindler, Benno Schmitz and Kingsley Ehizibue he has three almost equal players there. But he only takes two of them into the squad per game. “Otherwise one would be missing for the left,” says Baumgart.
As a result, Schindler, who started the season very strongly, switched back and forth between the starting eleven and the stands. The former Holstein Kiel player could be a candidate for the starting line-up again on Thursday. “He had a good start to the season and is in good spirits,” said Baumgart.
Uth is out
Mark Uth is not in a good mood at the moment. The elegant playmaker, capable of creating so many goalscoring threats, remains injured. “I’m not expecting him again in the next few days,” says Baumgart. Which means: Uth will not be there in the upcoming Bundesliga game, on Sunday at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Speaking of Frankfurt: The game in Hesse will for the first time also give an indication of how well or poorly 1. FC Köln are dealing with the double burden issue. There have already been many Bundesliga clubs that lost their feathers in the national league after moving into European business.
