News blog about 1. FC Cologne
Central defender is running again – FC talent making progress
Updated on December 9, 2025 – 5:47 p.mReading time: 44 minutes
1. FC Köln is playing first class again this season. In the news ticker on t-online you will find all the important reports about the “billy goats”.
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
The 1. FC Cologne started preparing for the derby on Saturday evening at Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Tuesday without any further injury concerns. Tom Krauß, who had to be substituted against St. Pauli, was able to train normally with coach Lukas Kwasniok’s team at the start of the week.
Meanwhile, Dominique Heintz is making progress after his muscle injury in the game against Werder Bremen. The central defender went for a run on Tuesday morning and then completed an individual program. However, it currently seems unlikely that there will be enough time for him to play until the derby.
The three other injured central defenders Luca Kilian, Timo Hübers and Joel Schmied were meanwhile working in the rehabilitation area. Youngster Youssoupha Niang, who had been out since the summer training camp in Bad Waltersdorf due to a shoulder injury, completed parts of the team training for the first time on Tuesday. The young striker should be carefully introduced to the strain again in the coming weeks and months.
The youngest Bundesliga goalscorer in the history of the 1. FC Cologne is called Pierre Littbarski. The midfield strategist scored his first FC goal on September 9, 1978 at the age of 18 years, four months and 24 days at Fortuna Düsseldorf. Lukas Podolski was now a few weeks older than Littbarski when he scored his first Bundesliga goal.
However, it was Podolski who scored ten Bundesliga goals in one season in 2003/04 at the age of 18 – and no one took advantage of that. Now someone could crack that: Said El Mala already has six Bundesliga goals. Only Podolski reached this mark earlier in his life. El Mala is 19 years and 102 days old.
If El Mala ultimately scores eleven goals or more this season, he would be the youngest FC striker to score so many Bundesliga goals in one season at his age.
Sunday, December 7, 2025
Said El Mala was recently described as a “specialist” by Lukas Kwasniok. The 1. FC Köln attacker is a winger who moves from the sidelines into the center with speed and dribbling skills. But against FC St. Pauli, the FC coach brought his storm jewel into the center.
“If the opponent plays with five defenders, Said first has to dribble out one and then another usually comes,” the 44-year-old explained his surprising personnel decision after the game. “The probability is higher in the center if he is faster.” El Mala had two great chances in the first half and scored his goal to make it 1-0 in the second half.