1. FC Cologne
Crisis at FC: Final weeks for Kwasniok?
03/05/2026 – 07:42 amReading time: 2 minutes
Crucial weeks begin for Lukas Kwasniok at 1. FC Cologne. The FC coach knows that he can no longer afford a series of defeats.
The 1. FC Cologne moves to the Rheinenergiestadion on Thursday. The billy goats take part in the two non-public training sessions before the home game against Borussia Dortmund in Müngersdorf. The team wants to rehearse an emergency in front of empty stands before 50,000 spectators stream into the stadium on Saturday evening.
These fans will then for the most part hope for something worthwhile for FC. The measure to hold the training sessions in the Rheinenergiestadion is not due to the crisis, but rather to the poor space conditions at the Geißbockheim. However, those responsible still hope that this will give them an extra shot of concentration.
This is also necessary because the last appearance in the Bundesliga (0-2 against Augsburg) left everything to be desired. Even the players didn’t mince words anymore. “It absolutely doesn’t work that way, we’ll have huge problems with a performance like that,” said Tom Krauß in the FC podcast on Radio Cologne. The 24-year-old criticized his own team for a lack of enthusiasm and too good behavior on the pitch.
So after the recent winless streak of just one point from four games, the attention is again on Lukas Kwasniok. The head coach was only able to free himself from the crisis before Christmas in January with seven points from five games. Now his team is at its next lowest point. And apparently the 44-year-old doesn’t have much time left to turn things around.
There are three games left before the international break at the end of March: against Borussia Dortmund, at Hamburger SV and against Borussia Mönchengladbach. If the Billy Goats don’t win in these three duels, Kwasniok’s time at FC would probably end in March. The head coach needs at least one win to keep his job. That much is certain.
BVB may have come at just the right time. The black and yellow come to Cologne badly injured after the exit from the Champions League, the defeat in the classic against FC Bayern and the serious injury to Emre Can. The 2-3 defeat against Munich was Dortmund’s first Bundesliga defeat after 16 games.
The billy goats, who are also ailing, still feel like they have an outside chance in the home game. FC have had a balanced record against BVB at home in recent years (three wins, three draws, three defeats).
The problem: The result on a Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. is devastating. Of the last 13 top games in the Bundesliga, FC lost ten and won only one. In the current season, FC lost all six top games. But Kwasniok needs something countable. And this is how this series has to end in order to get FC back on track.
