In the away game at VfB Stuttgart, 1. FC Köln lost 3-0 in the calendar year for the first time in the 2023 calendar year. The sporting performance of their own team wasn’t the only thing that annoyed head coach Steffen Baumgart on Saturday.
In the run-up to the explosive duel between the two traditional clubs, there had been a lot of stress between the police or security forces and supporters of 1. FC Köln on Saturday afternoon.
On the one hand, four buses with around 200 Effzeh Ultras were waved out for a police check upon arrival. After the checks quickly made it clear that the procedure would have been delayed until after kick-off, the Cologne fans all drove back towards the cathedral city.
A circumstance that was also heard by Steffen Baumgart after the game and caused a lack of understanding: “It annoyed me that some of our boys were checked by the police. It was a deliberate action. The controls that were carried out lasted for hours. There some guys just went home,” confirmed the Cologne coach to “Bild”.
Baumgart wonders about “make-up ban”
The background to the police measure was that the Cologne Ultras had ignited pyrotechnics more than 100 times in the last away game at VfB Stuttgart in May 2022, resulting in an XXL fine of over 115,000 euros.
On the other hand, Steffen Baumgart was upset about the strict admission controls at the stadium entrance on Saturday. Many guest fans were denied access because they had made up on the carnival weekend.
“I’m relatively sure that there is a ban on face masks, a ban on make-up would be new to me,” said the Cologne coach somewhat smugly.
Neither the controlled Ultras nor the made-up Effzeh supporters came to the guest block to kick off and were therefore unable to support their team in the 0:3 smack against VfB.