News blog about 1. FC Cologne
“If he stays sensible in his head”
Updated 12/27/2025 – 10:14 amReading time: 5 minutes
1. FC Köln is playing first class again this season. In the news blog on t-online you will find all the important news about the Geißbockheim.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Former soccer world champion Wolfgang Overath believes Cologne’s shooting star Said El Mala can make it into the German World Cup squad. The national players Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz could raise the DFB team’s level “quite a bit,” Overath told the “Kronen-Zeitung” with a view to the 2026 World Cup – and “very young ones” are also coming up: “For example, our Cologne El Mala.”
Overath, who started his professional career at 1. FC Cologne and won the World Cup title in his own country in 1974, praised “the dynamism” of the 19-year-old. “He doesn’t stumble, pulls inward again, takes a swing and then hits the things,” said the former FC president.
The 82-year-old warned: “If he stays sensible, he has a chance of becoming a special player. Hopefully he will then survive all the euphoria that is currently surrounding him.” This also applies to “little” Lennart Karl (17) from Bayern Munich. “There is no such thing as being too young: I was already in the national team when I was 19,” emphasized Overath.
El Mala has scored six goals in 15 games for Cologne in his first Bundesliga season. National coach Julian Nagelsmann nominated the Krefeld native for the DFB team for the first time in November.
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
From a sporting perspective, Luca Waldschmidt experienced an unfortunate end to the year. In the 0-1 win against Union Berlin, the sixth game without a win in a row, the attacking player from the 1st team was missing. FC Cologne due to illness. But a private highlight makes Waldschmidt rejoice shortly before Christmas: the former national player married his girlfriend Gianna.
The 29-year-old posted a photo on Instagram on Tuesday showing the two of them after the civil wedding. The couple stretch their arms up in joy, and the FC professional writes: “Mr & Mrs. Waldschmidt.” Incidentally, the two met at Geißbockheim when Gianna was doing an internship in the media department.