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, Borussia Dortmund.

Spielvereinigung 1907 Koln - Sulz were established in 1907 (funnily enough given their name - I wonder why so many German teams decide to put a number in their names?) and on New Year's Day 1919 merged with Hertha Sulz to form Spvgg Sulz 07.

After several changes to the German League and World War 2, the 2 teams came together and formed 1.FC Koln in the 1949-50 season. They started off in one of the hardest leagues in Germany at the time, the Oberliga West. In 1954 they managed to win the first division championship and reached the German Cup final where they lost to VFB Stuttgart. After relegation they won the 2nd division in 1960. In 1962 and 1963 they reached consecutive German Cup Finals beatin Nuremberg in 1962 and losing to Borussia Dortmund in 1963.

In 1964 the Bundesliga began and Koln were among the founder members. In the early years they were one of the most succesful clubs in the league, in terms of the number of points won. Apart from coming runners up in the league and many competitions they were crowned German Champions in 1962, 64 and 78 and won the German Cup in 1868, 77, 78 and 83 and played in the UEFA Cup Final of 1986. They also lost a 2nd replay in the quarter final of the European Cup Final to Liverpool on the toss of a coin, and strangely the fans now have an affinity with Liverpool fans.

In 1988 they were relegated for the first time and have been a bit of a yo-yo club since. This season they are playing in the top level of the Bundesliga after winning promotion last season.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boca Juniors shirt history

Image
The first game that I will be at on Sunday sees Boca Juniors take on Paris Saint Germain. I have always wanted to go and see Boca Juniors and I can't see me getting over to Argentina any time in the near future, so I am going to have to make do with seeing them in North London. On my travels I have met plenty of Boca fans, but funnily enough they have all been Russian or Ukrainian. I am a bit disappointed that Martin Palermo has now retired, but I am still looking forward to it. Obviously to do justice to the club history of Boca Juniors I'd probably have to write a book, so here's a quick history of their kit and colours instead. When Boca were formed in 1905 they originally played in pink, but obviously came round to thinking that this was a bad idea and changed to a light blue colour later in the year. They didn't stick with this shirt for very long either and for the 3rd time in a year decided to change the shirt colour, this time to black and white stripes. The fol
Read more

shirt history AS Roma

Image
Roma were the club that I followed in Italy and although they are most famous for wearing red and yellow, hence the nickname giallo rosso the club didn't always wear those colours. AS Roma were formed in 1927 by a merger between SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS with Italo Foschi being the driving force behind the merger. AS Roma could also trace their lineage back to FBC Roma who were formed in 1901 and who wore red and yellow, but the first shirts they wore took the red, white and blue of Fortitudo-Pro Roma. Roma soon established themselves at the top table of Italian football and in 1931 finished runners up to Juventus and by now had settled on red and yellow as their colours. However, you'll have to take my word for it because the picture below shows Attilio Ferraris in black and white. In 1942 Roma went one better and won their first Scudetto with Amadeo Amadei scoring 18 goals to help them secure the title. Pictured below he is wearing the change shirt with a repl
Read more

Sud Tribune, Dortmund

Image
The Sud Tribune at Westfalen is famed for the noise and support that it gives the BVB team. They started up early and carried on until well after the match had finished despite the poor result. At the end the team looked suitably disappointed when they thanked the fans. Nobody apart from the Hannover fans probably expected 96 to win. Hopefully better times for the Sud Tribune are just around the corner.
Read more