Fallen From Heaven: Cologne Fans Praying For Promotion In Exciting Second Division

Fallen From Heaven: Cologne Fans Praying For Promotion In Exciting Second Division
10:16, 14 Aug 2018

Cologne, Germany. Some matchdays begin at home, others on motorways or at railway stations. Many begin in the pub. In Cologne, the first home game of the season begins in church.

Or in the cathedral, to be precise. Since 2013, fans have gathered in the “Kölner Dom” ahead of the team’s first home match to pray for a successful season and they did so again on Monday afternoon ahead of the visit of Union Berlin – Cologne’s first home game in Bundesliga 2.

“FC Köln and the cathedral belong together, no matter what league,” the priest told around 4,000 fans in shirts and scarves, “we pray for goals, for points and for promotion!”

“As a church is a place of peace, we also wish our opponents all the best,” they added for the benefit of some visiting Berliners. “We wish you a safe journey home but with no points!”

God must have missed that last bit as Union’s Sebastian Andersson cancelled out Christian Clemens’ opener to hold Cologne to a frustrating 1-1 draw and sent the visitors back to Berlin with a well-deserved point, reminding Cologne that promotion might not be so straight forward.

From Arsenal to Aue

Of course, Cologne fans offered similar prayers last summer but God wasn’t listening then either as the club imploded and was relegated for the sixth time in two decades. This season’s destinations are no longer Arsenal, Belgrade and Borisov but Aue, Bielefeld and Bochum.

But there has been no drop-off in support. Membership is up by about 800, while only 100 season tickets were cancelled over the summer. Around 50,000 turned up to the club’s official season launch event while over 7,000 travelled to Bochum for last week’s 2-0 opening day win, despite an official allocation of less than 4,000.

“It doesn’t matter what division we play in, we will always support our team,” said Köln fans Karim and George outside the away end in Bochum. “First division, third division, we don’t care.”

The pair were among the 20,000 supporters who made the unforgettable pilgrimage to London last September. But would they have swapped the Europa League trips for Bundesliga survival?

“No!” laughed Karim after a moment’s hesitation. “The Europa League was a special experience for us; the first time in Europe in 25 years! Maybe now in the second division, we’ll have a chance to win the league and celebrate getting promoted again.”

A competitive league – in Germany!

If the second division is sadly familiar to Cologne supporters, it’s a novel experience for Hamburg who were relegated from the Bundesliga in May for the first ever time.

With budgets dwarfing those of their rivals, both are favourites to go straight back up – but Hamburg’s 3-0 defeat at home to Holstein Kiel on the opening day was an early minder of the pitfalls in a competitive league.

At one point midway through last season, only five points separated fourth from 15th. Not necessarily an indicator of quality, granted, but certainly competitive.

With an average of 2.75 goals per game last season, the football was often exciting, while the atmosphere and surroundings are also more than a match for the Bundesliga.

Last season’s average attendance of 17,616 was down on previous seasons (attributable to the presence of clubs with small stadia) but still around 10,000 more than attendances in the Spanish, French and Italian second tiers.

The 2016-17 season saw an average attendance of 21,747, and a similarly high figure is expected this year due to Hamburg and Cologne. By way of comparison, England’s Championship saw an average of 20,476 last season while La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A only attracted figures of between 22-27,000. 

Boring, boring Bundesliga

The competition on offer makes a refreshing change from the Bundesliga, where it’s difficult to see anybody preventing Bayern Munich from winning a seventh straight title.

Optimists hope that Bayern’s comparatively low-key transfer activity could present an opportunity for others to catch up. The champions only have one major addition – but it’s once again their closest challengers’ best player: Schalke’s Leon Goretzka.

And any hopes that relatively inexperienced new manager Niko Kovac would struggle to settle in Bavaria were dashed by Bayern’s thumping 5-0 Supercup win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Drop down one level though and things look much more interesting – and there’s no shortage of big names either.

Big names and big derbies

At the end of September, HSV will face local rivals St Pauli in the first Hamburg derby since 2011 – an economic, structural and political clash of opposites.  

And following their promotion, 1. FC Magdeburg will renew hostilities with east German rivals Dynamo Dresden in two clashes which promise as many fireworks off the pitch as on it.

Dynamo are well known for their militant support and Magdeburg’s following is no less fanatical, as illustrated by average attendances of 17-18,000 in the third division and the 1,000 fans who travelled to Bolton for a training camp and friendly match during last season’s winter break.

Over the course of that weekend, the travelling east Germans made headlines from Wrexham to Macclesfield to FC United of Manchester and now have the chance to see their team face the likes of Hamburg and Cologne – and the excitement is mutual.

“There are some big traditional clubs in the second division this season, so it’s interesting for us to go to these places and see these stadiums,” said Cologne fan Karim. “Hamburg and Dresden will be good trips and our final game is away at Magdeburg, which could be a great chance to get promoted.”

After Monday night’s draw with Union Berlin, Karim, George and the other Cologne fans who filled a sold-out Müngersdorfer Stadion will hope that God pays more attention to their prayers as the season goes on.

And he should, because Bundesliga 2 promises to be a rollercoaster ride.

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