Training start: Kwasniok starts at 1. FC Köln
1. FC Köln started its pre-season training in front of hundreds of fans with new head coach Lukas Kwasniok.
After the obligatory performance tests at the weekend, the 44-year-old former coach of SC Paderborn led the first team training session at the Geißbockheim on Monday.
New signings Ragnar Ache, Isak Johannesson, Jakub Kaminski, and Tom Krauß were among the players. Junior national team players Eric Martel, Jan Thielmann, and Jaka Potocnik will be granted special leave after their appearances. U19 European Championship participant Said El Mala will also join the team later. Luca Kilian (retired cruciate ligament) and Florian Dietz (retired shoulder injury) are currently training individually.
Meanwhile, Cologne's squad is likely to undergo further changes in the coming weeks. Max Finkgräfe, Tim Lemperle, and Dejan Ljubicic have already left the club. Striker Damion Downs is set to move to Southampton FC.
Hannover's keeper Zieler about to move to FCIn addition, Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler is close to a move to the cathedral city. He will serve as backup to regular goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe. The transfer is "on the way," said Kwasniok on the sidelines of the start of training. "If things go according to plan, he will hopefully be here tomorrow or the day after." This would make the position between the sticks in Cologne well-stocked. "If the worst comes to the worst, we would have the two best goalkeepers of the last second division season in one place here at FC. That would be a brilliant coup," said the head coach.
At the same time, Kwasniok emphasized that nothing else can be expected in terms of transfers in the coming days. "If we had to play now, we'd get a really good team together, but we'd still try to optimize it."
Competitive match start in RegensburgThe club's first friendly match will be on Saturday (2 p.m.) against SV Bergisch Gladbach. From July 19 to 26, they will then head to a training camp in Bad Waltersdorf, Austria. Their first competitive match will be on August 17 in the DFB Cup against Jahn Regensburg, and the Bundesliga campaign will begin one week later with an away game against Mainz.
Our sources:
- German Press Agency
- Website of 1. FC Köln
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