1. FC Köln Secure Promotion Back To The Bundesliga

On Sunday, 1. FC Köln secured promotion back to the German top flight thanks to a 4-0 win over Kaiserslautern. Eric Martel (14’), Luca Waldschmidt (29’), Florian Kainz (76’), and Mark Uth (82’) were the goalscorers in front of 50,000 spectators at a fully sold-out RheinEnergieStadion.

“Those are the stories that only football writes,” Köln head coach Friedhelm Funkel said about the Uth goal. The 33-year-old one-time German national team player will retire at the end of the season. “His goal pretty much sealed promotion for us.”

Ultimately, his goal didn’t just secure promotion. But Köln also secured first place in the 2. Bundesliga and, as a result, the 2. Bundesliga Meisterschale. Although that title was almost secondary, considering that Hamburger SV surrendered first place in the standings after securing promotion one week ago.

Still, Köln will take this after a difficult start to the season. In fact, the club was significantly hamstrung by a transfer ban that wasn’t lifted until January. Going into the season, Köln wasn’t allowed to make any transfers in the summer, and the ban was only lifted in January.

With that in mind, expectations were somewhat mixed ahead of the campaign. Always an emotional club shifting between one extreme and another, quite a few voices worried about potential relegation to the 3. Liga. Those voices only got amplified after a poor start to the season.

Head coach Gerhard Struber, however, switched out goalkeeper Jonas Urbig for Marvin Schwäbe. In the short term, the switch stabilized the club. But it also meant that Urbig was unsettled and then pushed for a move away from the club, eventually joining Bayern Munich in January.

With Köln securing the title, Urbig becomes just the third player in history to win the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga titles in the same year. In retrospect, pushing out Urbig might have been worth it. But it was one of many decisions that eventually came to haunt head coach Struber and director of sport Christian Keller.

On course for promotion, results started to slip in April. Then, on May 4, with just two games left in the season, the club fired both Struber and Keller. While the director of sports position remains vacant, Struber was replaced by 71-year-old Funkel.

A controversial decision, after all, even Funkel admitted that the squad was in good shape. “When I arrived here, everyone was in brilliant shape,” Funkel said post-game. “There wasn’t much I had to do to get this across the line.” At this point, Funkel may have realized that he put himself in risky territory. “Well, I had to make a few tiny tweaks,” Funkel added.

The decision to fire Struber and Keller on a whim fits a club often guided by populism rather than rational decision-making. Both have made mistakes in their tenure at the club. Struber, in fact, struggled in his two previous roles at New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg.

Conversely, Köln fans came into the season expecting the worst. It was only because of Keller and Struber that the dream of promotion became a reality.

Even Funkel admitted that Keller had put together a strong squad. “When I looked around the league, I have to say HSV and Köln have the strongest squads,” Funkel said. “For me, they were the favorites to go up.”

Both HSV and Köln are now back in the Bundesliga. That’s good news for the Bundesliga, which was desperate to get some of the blue-chip clubs stuck in the second division back to the first division. But will they remain there?

On balance, HSV might be in a slightly better position. The club has a talented coach, Marvin Polzin, and a brilliant sporting director, Stefan Kuntz. Köln, in turn, is without a coach and sporting director.

At least, Funkel hinted that he was open to continuing in his role. “I am definitely open for everything,” Funkel said. But is a 71-year-old coach the right man to guide Köln to the future? Time will tell.