1. FC Köln
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1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
in
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901'' and '' SpVgg Sülz 07''. Köln will compete in the
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
, following promotion as champions of the 2024–25 2. Bundesliga season. The team are three-time national champions, winning the 1962 German football championship, as well as the Bundesliga twice, first in its inaugural season of 1963–64 and then again in 1977–78. The team plays its home matches at
RheinEnergieStadion RheinEnergieStadion, formerly Müngersdorfer Stadion () or Müngersdorfer Stadium, is a German football stadium in Cologne. It was built on the site of the two previous Müngersdorfer stadiums. It is the home of the local 2. Bundesliga team, ...
. The club's nickname ''Die Geißböcke'' (The Billy Goats) refers to the club's
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...
, a male goat named ''Hennes'' after the veteran FC player and later manager
Hennes Weisweiler Hans "Hennes" Weisweiler (5 December 1919 – 5 July 1983) was a German professional football player and coach. As a coach, he won major titles with Bundesliga clubs Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Köln in the 1970s. With eleven titles, ...
. The first ''Hennes'' was donated by a circus entrepreneur as a Cologne carnival joke. The current mascot is ''Hennes'' IX after Hennes VIII was retired by the club due to old age. Another nickname for the club, more common locally due to its ambiguity, is ''FC'' (often written as ''Effzeh''), a common German abbreviation for football clubs. Characteristic for the dialect spoken around Cologne, this is pronounced "EF-tsay", in contrast to the
Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...
pronunciation of the abbreviation where the second syllable is emphasized (). Köln play at home in white and red, both colours having been used as the main shirt colour throughout its history. The club's longest-standing and fiercest rivalry is with
Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...
, against whom they contest the Rhine derby. Although Mönchengladbach is not located along the Rhine, both clubs are based in the
Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...
cultural region. Köln also has rivalries with two other Rhineland-based clubs:
Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...
and
Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...
. Like many of Germany's other professional football clubs, 1. FC Köln is part of a larger sports club with teams in other sports like
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...
,
table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...
and
gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...
. 1. FC Köln has over 150,000 members, making it the fourth largest club in Germany.


History


Predecessor sides

Kölner BC was formed on 6 June 1901 by a group of young men who were unhappy as part of the
gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...
club FC Borussia Köln and were more interested in football. BC participated in the Zehnerliga West in the years before
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and took the Westdeutsche championship in 1912 and advanced to the preliminary rounds of the national finals. Their next best result was in the 1920 league final, where they lost 1–3 to
Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...
. Spielvereinigung 1907 Köln-Sülz was established in 1907 as Sülzer Sportverein and on 1 January 1919 merged with Fußball Club 1908 Hertha Sülz to form SpVgg. They won the Westdeutscher title in 1928, but lost in the early rounds of the national finals. They went on to play as a top flight club in the Gauliga Mittelrhein, one of sixteen premier level divisions established in 1933 in the reorganization of German football under the
Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
. After winning a divisional championship in 1939, – they then entered a period of decline in the early 1940s. After the 1941 season, the Gauliga Mittlerhein was split into two new divisions: the Gauliga Köln-Aachen and the Gauliga Moselland, which included clubs from occupied Luxembourg. Sülz struggled until they were united with VfL Köln 1899 for the 1943–44 season, to form the combined wartime side Kriegspielgemeinschaft VfL 99/Sülz 07, which would end up winning the Gauliga Köln-Aachen title by a single point over SG Düren 99 in a close race. The club did not play the next campaign as war overtook the region.


A successful new club

After the union of these two predecessor sides (1948), 1. FC Köln began play in the
Oberliga West Oberliga () may refer to: Association football * Oberliga (football), currently the fifth tier of the German football league system, formerly the first * DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of football in East Germany until 1990, replaced by the NOFV-O ...
in the 1949–50 season, and, by 1953–54, had won their first divisional championship. In 1954, they lost the DFB-Pokal final 1–0 to
VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...
. ''Die Geißböcke'' won their second Oberliga West title in 1959–60, and appeared in the national final against
Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...
, where they lost 3–2. Köln also finished first in the Oberliga West from 1960–61 to 1962–63. They won the 1962 German championship final 4–0 against 1. FC Nürnberg, becoming German champions for the first time, and qualified for the
1962–63 European Cup The 1962–63 European Cup was the eighth season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by AC Milan, who beat two-time defending champions Benfica in the final at Wembley Stadium, London, on 22 May ...
, where they were one of the favourites to win the trophy. In the first round, Köln visited
Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
of Scotland and lost 8–1, and despite winning the second leg back in Germany by 4–0, they were eliminated from the tournament. In the following year's German championship final, they lost 3–1 to
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
.


Continuing success

In 1963, FC Köln became one of the 16 founder members of the
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
, Germany's new professional football league. Köln continued their winning ways by becoming the first Bundesliga champion, in the league's inaugural 1963–64 season. As German champions, Köln entered the 1964–65 European Cup, where it met England's
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
at the quarter-final stage. After two 0–0 draws, a third game was played which was also a stalemate, this time 2–2. As the
penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
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 also became the first Bundesliga side to field a Brazilian player, when it signed Zézé from Madureira for a then club record fee of DM 150,000.Schnee-Allergie beim Samba-Kicker
Weltfussball.de, published: 27 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
Domestically, Köln recorded a second-place finish in the 1964–65 Bundesliga season and won its first
DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...
in 1967–68. At the start of the 1970s, Köln reached three DFB-Pokal finals in four seasons, losing all three; to
Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Fussball-Club Kickers, commonly known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left establis ...
in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
,
Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...
in
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
and
Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...
in
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
. The team also achieved another second place Bundesliga finish in
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
, before reaching another DFB-Pokal final in
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
, beating
Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...
over two legs to win the trophy for the second time. In 1977–78, Köln enjoyed their most successful season, winning the Bundesliga title, its third national title overall, and retaining the DFB-Pokal, beating local rivals
Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...
2–0. Köln became the second club to claim the double in the Bundesliga era. Köln had another losing DFB-Pokal final appearance in
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
, before winning the competition for a fourth time in
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
. In 1986, the club appeared in its first European final, losing 5–3 on aggregate to
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
in the UEFA Cup Final. Two second place Bundesliga finishes, in 1988–89 and 1989–90, and another DFB-Pokal final loss in
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
, marked the end of a successful thirty-year spell for Köln.


Downfall

In the early years of the Bundesliga, 1. FC Köln was the most successful Bundesliga club in terms of total points won. Beginning in the early 1990s, however, the club's performance declined, and in
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
it was relegated for the first time. The side became a " yo-yo team", moving between the first and second divisions: they went up or down each season between 2001–02 and 2005–06. During this period, the FC also set the record for the longest goalless streak in Bundesliga history in the 2001–02 season, with 1034 minutes (equivalent to 11-and-a-half games) until Thomas Cichon scored. In late 2006, former coach
Christoph Daum Christoph Paul Daum (24 October 1953 – 24 August 2024) was a German professional Association football, football manager and player. As a manager, he won eight trophies with clubs from Germany, Turkey and Austria. In 1992, he won the Bundesliga ...
returned to Köln, and succeeded in leading the club back to the Bundesliga in 2008. After asuring Köln's Bundesliga status in the 2008–09 campaign, Daum left Köln for his former club Fenerbahçe. Köln's former star-striker
Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , 4 June 1985) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or attacking midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. He is kno ...
returned for the 2009–10 season. The club was relegated at the end of the 2011–12 season, finishing in 17th place, having accumulated €33m debt, and €11m
negative equity Negative equity is a deficit of owner's equity, occurring when the value of an asset used to secure a loan is less than the outstanding balance on the loan. In the United States, assets (particularly real estate, whose loans are mortgages) with ...
.1. FC Köln Wehrle schafft das Finanz-Wunder: Hier die Mega-Zahlen – Quelle: http://www.express.de/26913860 2017
, Express, 17 May 2017


Turnaround (2012–2017)

In April 2012, the club members elected a new board of directors, Werner Spinner as president, Markus Ritterbach for marketing, and Toni Schumacher for sport. In the 2012–13 season, under new trainer Holger Stanislawski, Köln finished in fifth place in the 2. Bundesliga, missing out on promotion back to the top division. In 2012 the board hired Jörg Jakobs as director of football, who then got promoted in 2014 to sporting director, chief scout and director of the academy. In January 2013, Alexander Wehrle joined as managing director of Köln. Wehrle was working as assistant for
VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...
president Erwin Staudt, especially for rebuilding the stadium. In summer 2013, Peter Stöger and Manfred Schmid were hired as coaching team, and Jörg Schmadtke as general manager. In 2013–14, Köln finished first in the 2. Bundesliga and earned promotion to the top division. It was followed by a 12th place 2014–15, ninth in 2015–16, and a fifth place in 2016–17, which saw them qualify for the
2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Parc Olymp ...
, their first European campaign in 25 years. After restructuring and repaying debt, equity turned from €11m negative to €20m positive. The turnover increased from €56m in 2012–13 to more than €120m in 2016–17.


Decline and changes (2018–)

After the club's return the European stage, fortunes quickly changed. The team experienced an unsuccessful start to the 2017–18 Bundesliga season gaining only three points from its first sixteen matches. At the same time, the club's Europa League campaign ended in the group stage. This downtrend led to the resignation of Jörg Schmadtke and Stöger's dismissal in December 2017; he was replaced by Stefan Ruthenbeck, who was appointed as caretaker manager. In spite of an improved record in the second half of the season, the team finished last and were relegated to 2. Bundesliga at the end of the year. Ahead of the 2018–19 season, Markus Anfang was appointed manager. While the club occupied the league's top spot for much of the season, Anfang was dismissed after a winless streak in April 2019. Only a week later, with André Pawlak having taken over as Anfang's successor, the team achieved promotion with a 4–0 victory over Greuther Fürth. Following an unsuccessful start to the 2019–20 season, which included a 3–2 cup defeat against
1. FC Saarbrücken 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken () is a German Football in Germany, football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. History The club began its existence as the footbal ...
, the club decided to terminate Achim Beierlorzer's contract on 9 November 2019. Sporting director Armin Veh, who weeks earlier had announced that he would not extend his contract with the club, was also dismissed from his position. On 18 November, former HSV manager
Markus Gisdol Markus Gisdol (born 17 August 1969) is a German Association football, football manager and former player who is the manager of Turkish club Kayserispor. Managerial career Early career Gisdol had coaching stints at SG Sonnenhof Großaspach, So ...
was appointed to the club's head coaching position, while Horst Heldt was made sporting director. Under Gisdol, the team avoided relegation at the end of the season. During the majority of the 2020–21 season, Köln was involved in a relegation battle and occupied one of the bottom three places in the division. On 11 April 2021, after losing to relegation rival
Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...
, Gisdol was dismissed from his position as head coach. The next day, the club presented Friedhelm Funkel as an interim coach who would take over head coaching duties until the end of the season. Funkel's side faced Holstein Kiel in the relegation playoffs. After losing 1–0 at home, his team recorded a 5–1 away win, enabling the club to retain its position in the Bundesliga. In March 2023, during the second half of the 2022–23 campaign, Köln were put under a two-window transfer embargo by
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
's Dispute Resolution Chamber, having been found guilty of inducing a breach of contract without just cause while signing Jaka Čuber Potočnik from Olimpija Ljubljana in January 2022. As part of the same verdict, the club was also sentenced to pay Ljubljana a
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...
51,750 compensation, in addition to training costs. Köln appealed the decision at the
Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...
in
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, which affirmed the embargo imposed by FIFA. In the 2023–24 Bundesliga season, Köln were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing second bottom on the table.


Stadium

The team plays its home matches in the Müngersdorfer Stadion, also known as the RheinEnergie Stadion for sponsorship purposes. It has a capacity of around 50,000 and had an average attendance of 48,676 in the 2015–16 season. The stadium sponsorship comes from a contract with the local power supplier RheinEnergie AG. However, most fans still call the stadium "Müngersdorfer Stadion", named after the suburb of Müngersdorf, where it is located. The club owns the ''Geißbockheim'' training centre, known as ''RheinEnergieSportpark'' for sponsorship, located in Sülz, which is a municipal part of Köln in the southwest of the city. The centre is home to the ''Franz-Kremer-Stadion'' the home of 1. FC Köln II.


Honours


Domestic

*
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
** Champions: 1963–64, 1977–78 **''Runners-up'': 1964–65, 1972–73, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1989–90 * German football championship ** Winners: 1961–62 **''Runners-up'': 1959–60, 1962–63 *
DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...
**Winners: 1967–68, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1982–83 **''Runners-up'': 1953–54, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1979–80, 1990–91 * 2. Bundesliga ** Winners: 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2018–19, 2024–25 **''Runners-up'': 2002–03


International

* Easter Cup **Winners:
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
*
UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
**''Runners-up'': 1985–86 * Uhrencup **Winners: 1991


Regional

*
Oberliga West Oberliga () may refer to: Association football * Oberliga (football), currently the fifth tier of the German football league system, formerly the first * DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of football in East Germany until 1990, replaced by the NOFV-O ...
**Winners: 1953–54, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63 **''Runners-up'': 1952–53, 1957–58, 1958–59


Doubles

* 1977–78: Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal


Reserve team

* German amateur champions: 1981


Youth

* German Under 19 championship ** Champions: 1970–71, 2024–25 ** ''Runners-up'': 1973–74, 1982–83, 1991–92 * Under 19 Bundesliga Division West ** Champions: 2007–08 ** ''Runners-up'': 2003–04, 2009–10,2013–14, 2014–15 * Under 19 Juniors DFB-Pokal ** Champions: 2012–13 ** ''Runners-up'': 1990–91, 1993–94 * German Under 17 championship ** Champions: 1989–90, 2010–11, 2018–19 * Under 17 Bundesliga Division West ** Champions: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2018–19 ** ''Runners-up'': 2008–09


Statistics


Kits

Köln's kits are made by Hummel International, who pay the club €20m over a five-year span.


Rivals

The club's longest-standing and fiercest rivalry is with
Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...
, against whom they contest the Rhine derby. Although Mönchengladbach is not located along the Rhine, both clubs are based in the
Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...
cultural region. Köln also has rivalries with two other Rhineland-based clubs:
Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...
and
Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...
.


Players


Current squad


Players out on loan


Second team squad


Coaching staff


Head coaches since 1963


Women's section

The women's team was promoted to the
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
in 2015. They were directly relegated back to the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga after the 2016–17 season ended, but managed to regain promotion in May 2017 to the Bundesliga.


References


Literature

*Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag


External links

* *
FC Köln statistics
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Koln, 1. Fc Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Cologne Association football clubs established in 1948 1948 establishments in Germany Bundesliga clubs 2. Bundesliga clubs