Soldo wants to change the club at his own request. The central defender leaves 1. FC Köln half a year before the end of the contract.
The collaboration between Nikola Soldo and 1. FC Köln has ended. The association and the central defender Soldo have prematurely dissolved the contract that was originally running until the summer of 2025. The club had already released it during the summer preparation in order to be able to have discussions with other clubs.
Soldo had only returned from the 1st FC Kaiserslautern before the season. At the beginning of the first few weeks under Cologne’s new trainer Gerhard Struber, the defender had been allowed to show himself again with the professionals. Struber, however, sorted him out before the training camp in Austria.
Soldo, son of the former Cologne coach Zvonimir Soldo, then negotiated with other clubs for a new contract, but the discussions failed. The corresponding offers had not promised Soldo. The 24-year-old therefore first remained in the training company of the Cologne U21, but only collected 16 minutes of play in three short appearances.
Since no satisfactory option for the player continued to open up, 1. FC Köln and Soldo have now agreed to dissolve his contract. Thomas Kessler, head of license ball at FC, said: “Since Nikola always behaved exemplary despite his sporting situation, we agreed.”
Soldo’s career at 1. FC Köln ends more than lucky after only eleven professional games in two and a half years. But now he has the chance to find a new club. Unlike in Germany, it is still possible in some countries such as England, Spain or Portugal to oblige contractual players.