Club Focus - 1. FC Koln
Next month I'll be going to Germany for some work related stuff, and although it is highly unlikely that I'll get to a game I thought I'd look at the local team, who are 1. FC Koln. Die Geissbocke or 'Billy Goats' as they are known got their nickname when circus ring master Carola Williams gave them a billy goat as a mascot in 1950, whose name was Hennes. Nowadays Hennes has his own fashion label with the fan friendly club doing their own merchandising under the label. Koln, who last season averaged an attendance of of 43,741 in 2 Bundesliga and gained promotion were formed in 1948 when Kolner Ballspiel club and Spvgg Sulz 07 merged to form what has become one of the best supported clubs in the Ruhr Valley. Kolner BC themselves were formed in 1901 when they split from the more gymnastically inclined sport club Borrusia Koln. In 1912 they became the Westdeutsher Champions and in 1920 lost the league final to a club who have become one of Koln's bitterest rivals, ...