Newsblog for 1. FC Cologne
Newly created position: FC obliges the squad planner of Fortuna Düsseldorf
Updated on 02.04.2025 – 5:03 p.m.Reading time: 44 min.
The 1. FC Köln is the football club from the cathedral city. In the New sticker on T-Online you will find all the important messages about the “billy goats”.
The 1. FC Köln drives its professionalization in women’s and girls’ and girls. With Philipp Backes, the club has now installed a squad planner for its female performance area for the first time. The 36-year-old recently worked for four and a half years for the male license area of Fortuna Düsseldorf, previously in the same function at Schalke 04.
The native Cologne and graduate of the German Sports University is now responsible for the scouting and squad planning area with FC women. “We are pleased that we were able to win an experienced scout with Philipp Backes. The scouting and squad planning are among the most important pillars of the license ball. With the support of Philipp, we want to further exhaust the potential of this area,” says division manager Nicole Bender-Rummler.
The 1. FC Köln has started the new training week with good and bad news. With Damion Downs (after a hand break) and Dominique Heintz (after muscle fiber tear), two top performers returned to team training on Tuesday morning, they can hope for a comeback on Saturday evening in the home game against Hertha BSC.
Captain Timo Hübers, who had missed the last game in Paderborn at short notice due to gastrointestinal problems, and Luca Waldschmidt, who had held a injury in the 2-1 victory in East Westphalia, was missing from the unit on Tuesday. With these two regulars, the FC must now see from day to day when it comes to use against Berliners. In addition to the long -term injuries, Jacob Christensen (muscular problems) could not take part in team training.
Florian Dietz fights against his early season. The striker of the 1st FC Köln, who runs on a loan base for the Austrian Bundesliga club SCR Altach in the second half of the season, cheated his shoulder during the international break. “Flo will be missing for the next few weeks,” says Altach’s coach Fabio Ingolitsch, but hopes for a comeback in the season’s sprint.
“Thank goodness he decided to bring this in a conservative way – that is, without surgery,” adds Ingolitsch. An operation would have had a three -month break. “We are happy about the decision because the chance lives that he will play for us again,” says Ingolitsch, who explains the further procedure as follows: “In the next few weeks it will be crucial how he will feel when he is ready to go back to the duels.”
The 1. FC Köln greets the top of the table after the 27th matchday of the 2nd Bundesliga. The victory at SC Paderborn promoted the goats seven games before the end of the season in one place after Hamburger SV against Elversberg had not got beyond a draw. As a reward, coach Gerhard Struber released his players for two days.
It is not trained on Sunday and Monday. The players only meet at the Geißbockheim on Tuesday to prepare for the next home game against Hertha BSC. Then the FC not only wants to defend first place, but also to defend or even expand its lead over the competition (one point on the HSV, four points on Kaiserslautern, five on Paderborn).
Mikail Özkan surprisingly celebrated his debut for the professionals of 1. FC Köln on Saturday. In the game at SC Paderborn in the 2nd Bundesliga, the 22-year-old was substituted for Max Finkgräfe shortly before the end. Özkan is a regular central defender of the U21 of the billy goats in the Regionalliga West.
It is already the seventh debut of a young Cologne young player this season. After Jonas Urbig, Julian Pauli, Elias Bakatukanda, Jaka Cuber Potocnik, Neo Telle and Oliver Schmitt, Özkan now came as a young player of the billy goats for his first professional minutes for FC.