Football Season Guide

Koln returned to the top-flight after just one season in the second division, but it wasn’t all plain sailing. Despite eventually winning the championship, The Billy Goats struggled for consistency at times and were never fully convincing in their performances. A late decision to replace boss Struber with the experienced coach Funkel proved to be the right one, as he guided them to promotion. Funkel was only on a short-term deal so a permanent coach was required for the new season. Lukas Kwasniok arrives with plenty of credit in the bank after consistently getting former club Paderborn into the higher reaches of the liga 2 table. The Polish boss is not afraid to mix things up with his starting line-up and will give youngsters a chance to shine if he sees fit. The last time Koln were in the Bundesliga, a transfer embargo restricted them, fortunately this isn’t the case anymore. A total of 10 new players have joined so far and this should help to make them more competitive. In attack reinforcements were needed after key duo Lemperle and Downs both left. Ache has been one of the top performers in the second-tier over the past few seasons and will be hoping to make the step up while Bulter has plenty of experience at this level. Other areas of the pitch have also been improved with influential midfielder Johannesson joining from Dusseldorf and robust Norwegian right-back Sebulonsen from Brondby. Kaminski, Lund, Ozkacar, and Krauß will all provide more strength in depth but the pick of the new boys is Dutch defender Rav van den Berg. A standout performer for previous club Middlesbrough and also plays for his country at Under 21 level. Koln should be unpredictable and exciting to watch under Kwasniok, but a step up in quality this season will be difficult. It could also take time for the new players to settle.