1. FC Köln

From Free net encyclopedia

1. FC Köln is a German football club in Cologne, Germany. Formed in 1948 out of the merger of Kölner BC 1901 and Sülz 07 they are today the dominant club in the city and one of the most popular sides in the country.

1 History
2 Honours
3 Team trivia
4 Notable players
5 Notable managers
6 Notable chairmen
7 2005/06 squad
8 External links

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History

Köln began play in the tough Oberliga West in the 1949-50 season and by 1954 had won their first divisional championship. That same year they lost a 1:0 German Cup final to VfB Stuttgart. Die Geißböcke won their second divisional championship in 1960 and this time parlayed that title into an appearance in the national final against Hamburg, where they went down to a 2:3 defeat. They went on to finish first in the Oberliga West in each of the next three seasons and again played their way to the national final in 1962 and 1963. They won the '62 match 4:0 over Nuremberg, but dropped the following year's contest 1:3 to Borussia Dortmund. By virtue of their appearance in the 1963 final they were selected as one of the original sixteen teams to play in the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league. Köln continued their winning ways by becoming the first ever Bundesliga champion in the league's inaugural 1963-64 season.

In the early years of the Bundesliga, 1. FC Köln (simply called 'FC' by its fans) was the most successful club in West Germany in terms of total points won. However, beginning in the early 1990s the club's performance had fallen off and in 1999 they were relegated for the first time. In recent years, it has been an "elevator club", moving between the top and second divisions. Its most recent move between the two divisions was promotion to the Premier League (German: Erste Bundesliga) at the end of the 2004-05 season as Second League (German: Zweite Bundesliga) champions, immediately after having been relegated. At the beginning of the 2005/2006 season, they were picked by Kicker Magazine as one of the favorites to be relegated again. As of the Christmas break, they are 16th out of 18 with 12 points from 17 matches.

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Honours

Köln's three Bundesliga championships entitle the club to display one gold star of the "Verdiente Meistervereine" on their crest or jerseys.

Bundesliga champions: 1962, 1964, 1978
Bundesliga vice-champions: 1960, 1963, 1965, 1973, 1982, 1989, 1990
German Cup winners: 1968, 1977, 1978, 1983
German Cup finalists: 1954, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1980, 1991
UEFA Cup finalists: 1986

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Team trivia

Perhaps the club's most infamous result was in a match played in the quarter-finals of the 1965 European Cup, where they met England's Liverpool F.C. After two 0:0 draws, a third game was played which was also a stalemate, this time 2:2. As the penalty shootout had not yet been introduced as the means of deciding a tie, 1. FC Köln went out of the competition on the toss of a coin.
Like many of Germany's other professional football clubs, 1. FC Köln is part of a larger sports club that also incorporates departments playing other sports, in this case handball, table tennis and gymnastics.
1. FC Köln holds the doubtful distinction of the worst goal draught in Bundesliga history. In 2002, the supporters had to wait 1034 excruciating minutes (equivalent to eleven games and a half) until Thomas Cichon found the back of the net again [1].