Not in the promotion final
Cologne star involved in the party ship in fight
12.05.2025 – 3:10 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Tim Lemperle will apparently miss the promotion final. The Cologne team was involved in a fight on Sunday.
The starting point is clear: With a point win against Kaiserslautern, the 1. FC Köln can make direct return on Sunday. But one of the most important offensive players, of all people, lacks the last home game of the season.
On Monday, coach Friedhelm Funkel gathered his team for the first unit of the new week. Whether it remains his last as a FC coach depends on the outcome of the game against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. One point would be enough to classify yourself directly behind Hamburger SV towards the Bundesliga. If this does not occur, Cologne would have to go back to the relegation – and Funkel’s commitment.
As for the sporting staff, there is a setback. Tim Lemperle will not appear against Kaiserslautern. The 23-year-old was already missing during the training on Monday and will not be available on Sunday. He had already played in Nuremberg despite knee pain, so a break was initially planned anyway. But now there are other reasons.
Lemperle was involved in a fight on Sunday, as Cologne’s sporting director Thomas Kessler confirmed to the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. Accordingly, the FC professional was attacked in the early evening and suffered facial injuries. “According to the current status, it is unlikely that it will be operational next Sunday,” said Kessler.
The discussion apparently occurred on a party ship that offers events on Sundays under the motto “Day drinking”. Lemperle is said to have been verbally provoked there. Later he was expected to leave the ship by two men. His accompaniment was also injured. According to information from the “Cologne Stadtanzeiger”, Lemperle is managed as a damaged person, but the circumstances indicate that he was not entirely uninvolved in the incident.
In the hospital it was found that the player was under considerable alcohol influence – apparently to a measure that the club does not accept. The game in Nuremberg Lemperle’s last assignment in the FC jersey should have been. The offensive player is about to switch to TSG Hoffenheim. He has been active for Cologne since 2017 after he had previously come from FSV Frankfurt’s youth.