Traditional club creates ascent
Cologne Testing: The “Effzeh” is back in the Bundesliga
Updated on May 18, 2025 – 5:30 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
On the last match day, the team of coach Friedhelm Funkel plays into a frenzy early on. And makes the comeback perfectly in the upper house.
Ecstasy in the cathedral metropolis: 1. FC Köln managed to return to the Bundesliga – and also secured the championship title in the “Unterhaus” on the last matchday of the 2nd league.
The “Effzeh” won 4: 0 (2: 0) against 1. FC Kaiserslautern and thus also pushed himself past the previous league leader Hamburger SV (2: 3 near Greuther Fürth).
Eric Martel (14th), Luca Waldschmidt (29th), Florian Kainz (74th) and Mark Uth (86th) met the deserved victory of the team of coach Friedhelm Funkel, who had only replaced Gerhard Struber last week. Waldschmidt gave a penalty in the 57th minute. After just one year, the Cologne residents are back in the Bundesliga.
Funkel had previously been in demand in the preparation for the season finale, especially in Causa Tim Lemperle. The 23-year-old had been heavily drunk a week before the season finale. Due to an assault, he suffered a broken nose, the course and the consequences have been permanent since then. Funkel emphasized that the incident “has no influence” on the game at all. Equipped with a special mask, Lemperle first sat on the bench – and came in the final phase.
For him, however, Damion Downs began, who almost destroyed the host’s euphoric start in front of 50,000 fans with a hair -raising back pass. But Lautern’s Ragnar Ache failed freely in front of Marvin Schwäbe (7th). Instead, Martel got the lead by head after the flank of Learst Paqarada. Waldschmidt followed up from a short distance – the Cologne south curve shone.
Kaiserslautern, only with minimal opportunities for the ascent, then consolidated something, but always failed due to the Swabian or his own precision. In the second half, only FCK goalkeeper Julian Krahl fought against the defeat-and parried a penalty against Waldschmidt (57th). “The 1. FC Köln is back,” sang fans in the Rhein-Energie Stadium 20 minutes before the final whistle. Kainz increased the euphoria with the third goal.