“More than deserved”
After seven years: Cologne returns to professional football
May 9, 2026 – 5:06 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
With a home win, Fortuna Cologne makes it back to the 3rd league. After initial trepidation, the people of Südstadt took advantage of their second opportunity for promotion.
After seven years in the fourth-tier Regionalliga West, Fortuna Cologne has successfully returned to professional football. On the penultimate matchday, coach Matthias Mink’s team secured the championship with a 2-1 home win against Sportfreunde Siegen and secured promotion to the 3rd league.
Cologne’s mayor Torsten Burmester (SPD) congratulated the club: “After such an outstanding season, more than deserved,” he said in a video message on Instagram.
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The Cologne team missed their first chance for promotion last week with a 1-2 defeat at Paderborn’s second representation. However, the team turned an early 0-1 deficit against Siegen. This means that Fortuna is four points ahead of second-placed Rot-Weiß Oberhausen one game day before the end of the season and can no longer be pushed off the top of the table before the last game of the season at Sportfreunde Lotte.
After some changeable years in the regional league, the Südstädter team had been at the top of the table since matchday 17 and remained unbeaten at home this season. Coach Mink played a large part in the success. The 58-year-old has been associated with the club for decades and played 162 competitive games for Fortuna as a player from 1992 to 1999. In 2007 he returned as a coach and accompanied the club through the then fifth-tier NRW league until 2011.
At the beginning of 2022 he was hired again – initially as reserve coach, then in spring 2022 as sporting director. He took over as head coach in March 2024. Uwe Koschinat had previously led the team to the 3rd league after promotion to the regional league – from which Fortuna was relegated again.
