Newsblog for 1. FC Cologne
The next FC striker is fighting against the season
Updated on April 7th, 2025 – 12:41 p.m.Reading time: 47 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”.
Florian Dietz had caught it a little more than a week ago. The loan striker of the 1st FC Köln suffered a shoulder injury in the game with the SCR Altach, which could possibly force him to look for the rest of the season. Now it has hit Malek El Mala another striker of the billy goats that is currently awarded.
In the semi-finals of the Middle Rhine Cup, the 20-year-old suffered a double ligament tear in Viktoria Köln 1-0. With the Höhenbergers, the trouble afterwards was big despite the final. The reason for the youngsters’ kinking was the poor quality of space with the opponent Teutonia Weiden. For Malek El Mala, the season is likely to have run before he will switch to Geißbockheim with his brother Said in summer.
Fabian Reese was the decisive man in the 0-1 defeat of the 1. FC Köln against Hertha BSC. The Berlin attacker scored the only goal of the evening in the RheinEnergiestadion on Saturday. “It was a very, very nice goal, he hit it outstanding,” FC sports director Christian Keller had to praise and knew: “This is no coincidence with him, he does it every now and then.”
Keller’s enthusiasm did not come from approximate. Two years ago, when Reese had switched from Holstein Kiel to Hertha free of charge, the people of Cologne had also tried for the offensive player. The Keller confirmed this for the first time on Saturday evening at Sky: “We talked to each other in 2023. He is a very, very good player.” At the time, Reese had met with the FC bosses for a personal conversation, but ultimately decided on Berlin.
Julian Pauli celebrated his comeback against Hertha BSC on Saturday evening. Almost four months after his serious head injury-suffered against the Hertha in the DFB Cup in early December-the 19-year-old was substituted for Jan Thielmann on matchday 28 against the Berliners in the 73rd minute.
Pauli could not prevent the 0-1 loss. However, after months of fear of his health, his comeback was a positive aspect for Cologne. “For Julian we were all happy today after this long time,” said sports manager Christian Keller after the game.
At 1. FC Köln there is a personal surprise before the home game against Hertha BSC. If coach Gerhard Struber had excluded a comeback from Damion Downs on Thursday, the attacker seems to be able to return to the squad against Berlin on Saturday.
Up to and including Wednesday, the striker was not fully resilient after his broken hand because he was not allowed to fall into the damaged area. On Thursday and Friday, however, Downs was able to complete the entire training content without impairments. Accordingly, the FC is confident that the goal scorer will count on the contingent on Saturday. The same also applies to Dejan Ljubicic: the Austrian had stepped on the foot shorter on Thursday after a blow, but reported fit again on Friday.
Thursday, April 3, 2025
The 1. FC Köln must also do without Timo Hübers against Hertha BSC. This was confirmed by coach Gerhard Struber on Thursday at the press conference before the game. The FC captain had deregistered itself last week before the away game in Paderborn due to a gastrointestinal infection. In addition, another central defender will be missing with Neo Telle due to illness.
For this, with Julian Pauli, Dominique Heintz and Dejan Ljubicic, three players return to the squad, who had recently been injured due to injuries or, as was missing in the case of Ljubicic. Luca Waldschmidt is probably also available after the attacker had recently kicked down due to a blessing.