1. FC Cologne
That’s why Kwasniok put his 40 million jewel in the bank
12/21/2025 – 11:58 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
Said El Mala was missing from 1. FC Köln’s starting eleven in the 0-1 defeat against Union Berlin. Lukas Kwasniok explains why he voluntarily gave up the top talent.
As the 1. FC Cologne An hour before kick-off of the home game against Union Berlin, the Billy Goats’ supporters were looking for a prominent name in vain: Said El Mala surprisingly only sat on the bench on Saturday afternoon. Lukas Kwasniok voluntarily gave up his top scorer (six goals, three assists).
The background was not an injury to the Cologne high-flyer, but rather a concrete plan from the coach. The FC initially wanted to focus on hard work against the strong Union team and only on football class as the game progressed.
Kwasniok explained: “We had our best phase this season when we focused on starting against teams in a way that we worked. We wanted to get players on the field who were capable of doing the dirty work first and foremost.”
At the beginning of the season, when FC got off to a brilliant start with seven points from three games, the hard-working Jan Thielmann and Jakub Kaminski were always in the starting line-up as offensive wingers. Meanwhile, El Mala scored as a noble joker, scoring three of his six goals after being substituted on.
Players like Thielmann and Kaminski should initially hold their own against Union on Saturday so that FC has the chance to win the game on their side “with a few more artists on the field,” as Kwasniok said. “That was the thought process.”
And at first it looked as if the coach’s plan might work. When El Mala came on after 68 minutes and was greeted frenetically by the fans, the scoreboard still read 0-0. But: Unlike his previous joker appearances, the 19-year-old didn’t find his way into the game.
El Mala, whose market value is now estimated by the portal “Transfermarkt.de” at the Cologne record value of 40 million euros, was only on the ball nine times. “Unfortunately, we didn’t find him that well,” Kwasniok also knew that his plan had fizzled out.
One of the reasons for this was probably that another Cologne “artist” was spontaneously forced to watch. Luca Waldschmidt, who certainly has the quality to put El Mala in the spotlight, was canceled at short notice. “He was there at dinner before the game, but then had to throw up. We were missing this congenial partner in the last half hour with his creativity,” said Kwasniok angrily.