1.FC Köln
1.FC Köln is a football (soccer) club from Germany.
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1. FC Köln is a Germany football (soccer) List of football clubs in Germany based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs
Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and
SpVgg Sülz 07. Like many of Germany's other professional football clubs,
1. FC Köln is part of a larger sports club that also incorporates departments playing other sports, in this case team handball, table tennis and gymnastics. The club's main rivals are
Bayer 04 Leverkusen,
Borussia Mönchengladbach, and
Fortuna Düsseldorf – all clubs from the same general region, near the river Rhine.
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History
Predecessor sides
A successful new club
After the union of these two predecessor sides,
1. FC Köln began play in the tough Oberliga West in the 1949-50 season and by 1954 had won their first divisional championship. That same year they lost a 1-0 German Cup final to VfB Stuttgart.
Die Geißböcke won their second divisional championship in 1960 and this time parlayed that title into an appearance in the national final against
Hamburger SV, where they went down to a 2-3 defeat. They went on to finish first in the Oberliga West in each of the next three seasons and again played their way to the national final in 1962 and 1963. They won the '62 match 4-0 over
Nuremberg, but dropped the following year's contest 1-3 to
Borussia Dortmund. By virtue of their appearance in the 1963 final they were selected as one of the original sixteen teams to play in the Bundesliga (football), Germany's new professional football league.
Köln continued their winning ways by becoming the first ever Bundesliga champion in the league's inaugural 1963-64 season.
The most infamous result to fans was possibly a match played in the quarter-finals of the European Cup 1964–65, where they met England's Liverpool F.C After two 0-0 draws, a third game was played which was also a stalemate, this time 2-2. As the kicks from the penalty mark had not yet been introduced as the means of deciding a tie,
Köln went out of the competition on the toss of a coin. Ironically enough there was the need for a second coin toss, because the first time the coin stuck vertically in the ground.
Köln holds the doubtful distinction of the worst goal drought in Bundesliga history; in Fußball-Bundesliga 2001–02, the supporters had to wait 1034 excruciating minutes (equivalent to eleven games and a half) until Thomas Cichon found the back of the net again
In the early years of the Bundesliga,
1. FC Köln (simply called 'FC' by its fans) was the most successful club in West Germany in terms of total points won. However, beginning in the early 1990s 1.FC Köln's performance fell, and in 1998 they were relegated for the first time. In recent years, the side has been a "yo-yo team, moving between the first and second divisions. They returned to the Bundesliga at the end of the 2004-05 season as 2nd Bundesliga (football) champions after having been relegated the season before. There was little optimism about their return to the top flight as they were picked by German football magazine
Kicker as one of the clubs most likely to be relegated.
This prediction came true when
Köln lost to
Hamburger SV 0-1 in the third to last match of the season. 1.FC Köln finished the season in second to last place and was relegated after conceding a league-worst 71 goals. The team's most prolific goalscorer was Lukas Podolski with a total of 12 goals, who transferred to
FC Bayern Munich after the end of the season. He also appeared with the national side in the 2006 World Cup competition.
In late 2006, former coach Christoph Daum was convinced to once again take the helm of the 2. Bundesliga club and succeeded in leading 1.FC Köln back to the 1. Bundesliga in 2008. After a successful Bundesliga campaign in 2008–09 Daum left
Köln towards his former club Fenerbahçe S.K.. Also
Kölns former star-stiker Lukas Podolski is to return for the 2009–10 season.
Recent seasons
Honours
- German champions 1962, 1964, 1978
- German champions runners-up: 1960, 1963, 1965, 1973, 1982, 1989, 1990
- German Cup winners: 1968, 1977, 1978, 1983
- German Cup runners-up: 1954, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1980, 1991
- UEFA Cup runners-up: 1986
- Uhrencup: 1991
- Joan Gamper Trophy of Barcelona: 1978, 1981
- Trofeo Villa de Gijón 1973
- Western German football championship: 1912, 1928
Reserve team
- German amateur champions: 1981
Youth
- German Under 19 championship (football)
- - Champions: 1971
- - Runners-up: 1974, 1983, 1992
- German Under 17 championship (football)
- - Champions: 1990
- Under 19 Bundesliga (football)
- - Champions: 2008
Stadium
The team plays its home matches in the RheinEnergie Stadion, with a capacity of little over 50,000. The name comes from a contract with the local power supplier RheinEnergy AG that will last till 2009. However, most fans still call the stadium "Müngersdorfer Stadion", according to the former stadium and the suburb Müngersdorf, where it is located.
Players
For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2009.
Women's section
Since July 2009 1.FC Köln has a women's football section as FFC Brauweiler Pulheim dissolved their club to join 1. FC Köln. The team will play in the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga (women) in 2009–10.
Notable chairmen
- Franz Kremer (1948 - 1967)
- Wolfgang Overath (2004 - )
Related pages
1.FC Köln, Arminia Bielefeld, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt, Energie Cottbus, FC Schalke 04, Hamburger SV, Hannover 96, Hertha BSC Berlin, Karlsruher SC, SV Werder Bremen, TSG Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Bochum, VfL Wolfsburg