News blog about 1. FC Cologne
El Mala brothers on the way to their big dream
Updated 12/29/2025 – 4:16 p.mReading time: 6 minutes
1. FC Köln is playing first class again this season. In the news blog on t-online you will find all the important news about the Geißbockheim.
Monday, December 29, 2025
At the 1. FC Cologne there is positive news from Malek El Mala. The 20-year-old brother of shooting star Said, who was slowed down several times by muscle injuries in the first half of the season, is back in advanced training. U21 coach Evangelos Sbonias reported to the “Geissblog” that the attacker is “doing well again” and is currently completing an intensive rehabilitation program. The aim is to “integrate El Mala back into training relatively quickly”; a comeback in the Regionalliga West is planned for the end of January.
At the same time, Sbonias made it clear what was important now. “In professional football it’s also about availability,” said the U21 coach with a view to the striker’s further development. El Mala “definitely has a lot of potential”, but he has to be able to use it constantly. That’s why he’s being built up very individually in order to stay healthy in the long term and to make himself suitable for the professional squad at 1 with regular appearances. FC Cologne recommended. Then the El Mala brothers’ dream of hunting for goals together in the Bundesliga could come true.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Imad Rondic is apparently planning to return to Germany. According to “Sport.de”, the striker, who was loaned out to Raków Czestochowa by 1. FC Köln until the end of the season, wants to leave the Polish first division club in the winter. His goal is said to be a loan to the 2nd Bundesliga, although no club has yet been found for this project.
In Czestochowa, Rondic was only allowed to start four times in 18 competitive games and did not score a single goal. The 26-year-old Bosnian only moved to Cologne in January 2025. He was sorted out again before the start of the current season. Rondic’s contract with FC runs long-term until 2029.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Former soccer world champion Wolfgang Overath believes Cologne’s shooting star Said El Mala can make it into the German World Cup squad. The national players Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz could raise the DFB team’s level “quite a bit,” Overath told the “Kronen-Zeitung” with a view to the 2026 World Cup – and “very young ones” are also coming up: “For example, our Cologne El Mala.”