1. FC Cologne
FC trainer agrees with an hymn: “You have to get involved with this city”
02.08.2025 – 8:51 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Around 20,000 fans of the 1st FC Köln celebrated the billy goats for the season opening. Mo Torres heated up the followers. There was applause for an FC star.
They also could not be stopped by the weather forecast. Around 20,000 followers of the 1st FC Köln flocked to the predictions of the RheinEnergieStadion on Saturday and celebrated the annual opening of the season. Kölsch and Softdrinks flowed in masses, sausages and grated cakes to thousands over the counter. The focus was on the team presentations.
Long snakes had formed on several tents at noon. In the pouring rain, the fans were patient to get signatures from their stars. The players of the two Bundesliga teams of the billy goats signed as hard as the two coaching teams. Lukas Kwasniok and Co. obviously had fun.
As every year, the FC had loaded onto the presence and put together a colorful supporting program. The bands Mätropolis, fiasco and outskirts came as well as Mo Torres as a surprise guest. They all brought a mood from the big stage, where in the afternoon the women’s and then the men’s team were first presented as well as the inclusion elf of the billy goats.
Jan Thielmann got the greatest cheer. The 23-year-old signed his new contract on Friday until 2028. Sports director Thomas Kessler announced the news on the stage. With Thielmann, the billy goats keep one of the key players under Kwasniok and one of the faces for the future.
“This is a very nice message,” said Kwasniok and gave a declaration of love for the right wing. “Jan is an energy leader, an identification figure. This is how fans want to see FC playing in the Bundesliga – maybe not perfect, but full of energy. Jan. Jan stands for this to always play and work intensively.”
The FC coach himself also conquered the hearts of the fans on Saturday by already being able to start the club anthem after only one month in office. “You have to get involved with this club. “Today was a perfect day for it – except for the weather.” And even if he didn’t want to succeed in the Cologne pronunciation in the anthem: “It is more due to my singing quality, which is simply not available,” said Kwasniok with a laugh. “I could have singed the text longer, but that didn’t have to be on the microphone.”
On August 31, he will hear her for the first time in the RheinEnergieStadion from the throats of 50,000 fans. Then the FC plays its first Bundesliga home game of the season against SC Freiburg. Two weeks earlier, Kwasniok, Thielmann and Co. must be fit. Then it has to be passed in the DFB Cup at SSV Jahn Regensburg. On Saturday, fans and players agreed on the new season.