1. FC Cologne
New FC contract? This is Martel’s plan for the future
24.07.2025 – 6:16 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Eric Martel has initially known himself to the 1. FC Cologne. The midfielder of the “goat” explains what a contract extension depends on.
In the past few weeks and months, hardly any player of 1. FC Köln has been spoken as much as about Eric Martel. The 23-year-old is one of the top performers with which sports director Thomas Kessler absolutely wants to extend prematurely. Martel himself stayed on special vacation until the end after his participation in the U21 national team and kept covered. But now the six has submitted a clear plan for his future.
“The FC would like to extend with me,” said Martel, who was only bound to the Cologne team until June 30, 2026, in the training camp in Bad Waltersdorf and also revealed his preliminary answer: “I first said that I wanted to wait and see the first round and see how the whole thing develops here.”
The FC managers actually wanted to rule out that top performers start the season with an expiring working paper. Finally, Damion Downs, which was also only under contract until 2026, was sold to FC Southampton for a lot of money. At Martel, the “billy goats” now make an exception.
Sports director Kessler and the U21 Vice European champion met in the training camp in Bad Waltersdorf for the future summit and agreed to postpone the decision on the winter break. “Then we will sit down and talk about it again,” revealed Martel.
The midfielder does not want to rule out a scenario – neither a contract extension nor a farewell in winter or summer 2026. There is no question that he likes it at FC. “I feel very comfortable here, I like to play in the stadium incredibly. I enjoy driving on the training area every day. I have no ambitions to go here,” emphasized Martel in Bad Waltersdorf that he currently has no idea.
In this respect, the speculations about the interest of the AC Florence are not really hot this week. When asked about the Italian Serie-A-Club, Martel said on Thursday: “There are always many rumors in the media, so you can’t believe everything.”
But what would have to happen so that the native of Straubinger extends in Cologne? “We have very new people in many positions, new coaches and also with Thomas Kessler, the position is new. I have to feel that something is developing here and we play successful football.” If the FC starts with Lukas Kwasniok, the chances of a long -term future with Martel increase.