SC Fortuna Köln (Germany)

Sport Club Fortuna Köln e.V. is a football club based in the German city of Cologne who were formed on the 21st February 1948 following the merger of three clubs: Victoria Köln 1911, Bayenthaler SV 1920, and Sparkassen-Verein Köln 1927.

All three clubs played in regional football. The period under Third Reich rule say a reorganisation of football across the country as sixteen top flight regional Gauliga’s being formed, with Gauliga Köln-Aachen covering the Cologne region from 1941.

Victoria played in the Gauliga from 1941-42 before winning the title the following season and remaining at that level until 1943-44 when Bayenthaler SV won promotion from the Bezirksligen to join them for a solitary season.

All three clubs united to pool resources as they won promotion from Landesliga Mittelrhein in 1949-50 but dropped back down Gruppe II of 2. Oberliga West a couple of seasons later when the competition was streamlined.

Fortuna ended as Staffel 1 Landesliga runners-up in 1952-53 prior to ending in the same position in Staffel 2 in 1955-56 which was enough to guarantee a place in the new third tier Verbandsliga Mittelrhein where the team ended in the relegation spots in the inaugural season.

The club dropped down a further level in 1959-60 as they were relegated to Bezirksklasse Mittelrhein 3 where the team won the league title in their second season to return to the Landesiga.

Fortuna regained their Verbandsliga status after winning the championship in 1964-65 before winning promotion to Regionalliga West as league runners-up the following season and then moving into Müngersdorfer Stadion to share with 1. FC Köln.

The team initially struggled at second tier level before finishing fourth in 1970-71 and then third twelve months later, as a new wealthy President, Jean Loring assisted the club's playing budget.

Fortuna won promotion to the Bundesliga in 1972-73 which proved to be a step too far as the spell lasted just one season. A fourth place finish were achieved in 1975-76 as FC Alter Markt Köln was absorbed into the club.

It was fourth place again in 1977-78 with Fortuna taking up residence at Kölner Südstadion before returning the same league position in 1978-79 before the team meandered onwards in the top half of the table.

The 1982-83 season’s DFB-Pokal exploits under coach Martin Luppen would bring Fortuna to national attention. Wins against SC Freiburg, SSV Ulm 1846, Eintracht Braunschweig, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund took the team to the final.

A Pierre Littbarski goal for neighbours 1. FC Köln settled the game 1-0 at Müngersdorfer. Fortuna’s stars of the time included Dieter Lemke, Johannes Linßen, Hans-Jürgen Geda, goalkeeper Bernd Helmschrot and captain Dieter Finkler.

The goals of Bernd Grabosch helped Fortuna to third place in the 2. Bundesliga season of 1985-86 before Borussia Dortmund ended dreams of promotion with play-off replay decider after former player Linßen was now in the coach’s role.

Uwe Fuchs and Christiaan Pförtner formed a fine forward partnership in 1988-89 before Fortuna escaped relegation by winning the play-off round in 1991-92. He team spent the rest of the decade in the second tier without any stand out seasons.

Top scorers of the day were Rainer Krieg and Antoine Hey in 1996-97 and then Thomas Brdaric in 1998-99, with long lasting President Loring being ousted from power in 2000 after Fortuna had been relegated to Regionalliga Nord.

After finishing fourth in 2000-01 the team went down in bottom place to the fourth level Oberliga Nordrhein. A lot worse was to follow as a disastrous 2004-05 campaign saw Fortuna unable to finish the season through bankruptcy after the winter break.

The clubs’ other teams were secured as monies were raised. Fortuna’s first team were placed in Verbandsliga Mittelrhein for 2005-06 where they remained for three seasons until winning promotion as runners-up in 2007-08 to the fifth tier NRW-Liga.

The club received a stroke of luck in 2010-11 when after finishing in third place, the runners-up TSV Germania Windeck declined promotion, allowing Fortuna to go up to Regionalliga West where the team finished in seventh on their return as Silvio Pagano led the scoring.

This was followed up with a runners-up place in 2012-13 as Thomas Kraus supplied the goals before he was aided by Ercan Aydoğmuş as Fortuna won the title in 2013-14 and then their play-off game against FC Bayern München II to secure promotion to 3. Liga under coach Uwe Koschinat.

The side consolidated in 3. Liga as Johannes Rahn top scored in 2014-15 with Julius Biada, Hamdi Dahmani and Daniel Keita-Ruel taking over the mantle as Fortuna finished in sixth place in 2017-18.

Tomasz Kaczmarek replaced Sandhausen bound Koschinat in the 2018-19 campaign. His spell didn’t last until the end of the season as Fortuna were relegated. Thomas Stratos was appointed as the new coach in the summer of 2019.

Fortuna were in twelfth place when the 2019-20 season was halted by the outbreak of Coronavirus. Sascha Marquet scored the goals as Fortuna finished fifth in 2021-22 under new coach Alexander Ende, which was backed up with sixth place with Lars Lokotsch topping the scoring charts when Markus von Ahlen was put in charge of team affairs.

SC Fortuna Köln will play in Regionalliga West in the 2023-24 season.

My visits

Friday 26th October 2012

I had the weekend off work and with my own club Scarborough Athletic not having a fixture, I decided to venture once more to North West Germany. I travelled solo on this occasion purely to get to some new stadiums without the distractions of some absolutely top pals who are great company but their presence would be more likely to end in a review of bars and restaurants various!

My flight had dropped me at Cologne/Bonn airport and I had purchased a regional daily rail ticket for Euro 25. I had done my planning, but I amended my schedule to see a couple of venues in Cologne before heading to my hotel in Dusseldorf where I was to spend a couple of nights.

The train arrived at Cologne Hauptbanhof and although I'd been to the city on a few occasions in the past, I still needed to find my bearings. The early alarm call in my Gatwick hotel had caught up with me. 

I got myself together and found the KVB local tram service under the station. After a change I alighted at Pohligstrasse, which was just across Am Vorgebirgstor from Sudstadion, with the stadium immediatley visible.

I looked through the railed gates and saw a man blowing the autumn leaves and tidying the stadium in preparation for the following weeks encounter with FC Kray. 

I caught his attention and tried to converse and get him to open the gate to let me in for a few minutes, to no avail. However, I was not to be beaten as I walked around and got myself enough good views for my photos.

Sudstadion was a multi use stadium with the playing area being surrounded by an athletics track. It had a bank of open terracing all the way around it, with one long covered seated stand down the finishing straight of the track.

After taking my snaps I headed back to the tram stop in readiness to head to my next club of the morning; FC Viktoria Köln 1904.

SC Fortuna Köln 2 FC Magdeburg 1 (Saturday 28^th January 2017) 3. Liga (att: 3,071)

My long weekend in Germany was into its second morning after I awoke at the Hotel ibis Koeln Airport. The weather looked good as I took the train from Köln Frankfurter Straße to Köln Hauptbahnhof central station.

I was still a bit weary after the previous day's excitement, which had seen me get a train from Hull to Manchester, my plane take off very late meaning I missed some action at Union Berlin, and then flew from Berlin to Köln/Bonn Airport after the game, getting in after midnight.

Having located the left luggage lockers I came across my first sighting of Magdeburg fans. It’s fair to say that they seemed rather confused by the modern technology on show; a bit like when northern rugby league fans try to negotiate the tube on Cup Final day at Wembley.

It was a sight to behold as they tried to get the lockers to work and then scrambled about for change. I did the decent thing and found one round the corner so that they couldn't see me laughing.

Once I’d deposited my backpack I headed down to the banks of the Rhine. The city looked stunning as I walked along, with people already sitting outside bars and restaurants despite it being only around 11am.

It was time for me to break the seal and I kicked off at Peters Brauhaus on Mühlengasse in the Aldstadt for a couple of home brewed kölsch to begin proceedings. I wandered round to the main square and a seat in a bar and restaurant for an average standard meal and a couple more beers.

Time was getting on with the match kicking off at 2pm. I knew by the amount of visiting fans frequenting the bars that it could be busy on the trams to the Südstadion, so I decided to give myself plenty of time.

The number 5 tram from Rathaus took me to Friesenplatz, where I changed to the number 12. This dropped me off at Pohligstraße just over the road from the entrances. It all came back to me from my previous trip. A couple of local bars had fans drinking outside, but I declined.

Instead I bought my €14 terrace ticket from the booth and went inside, being given a free A4 sized programme as I went in. The stadium was as described when I last went, with my ticket giving me access all the way down one side.

The Magdeburg fans were on the curve to my right and their section was filling up all the time as their team looked to push for an automatic promotion slot. Their impressive presence certainly had me smiling at the official attendance figure.

The teams emerged from the half way line under our terracing. The away support was similar to their actions as I’d seen from the other former East German side, Dynamo Dresden. They were virtually silent before breaking into a crescendo of noise.

The match was the first after the winter break so it wasn’t too surprising that the early stages were a little on the scrappy side with neither side creating too much in the way of chances. The first goalmouth action came when the visitors took the lead.

Köln were awarded a penalty by referee Arne Aarnink on twenty two minutes as Cédric Mimbala was adjudged to have been fouled. Oliveira Souza's spot kick hit the foot of the post to rebound out and hit the back of Magdeburg keeper Leopold Zingerle and roll into the net.

Amazingly, the home players saw fit to congratulate Souza despite him missing with the kick! It took only three minutes for Magdeburg to draw level as corner was flicked on to defender Felix Schiller to finish with a tap in at the far post.

Köln responded when a fine run and cross by Christopher Theisen was smashed against the bar by Brazilian striker Cauly, when it looked easier to score than miss. The score remained 1-1 at the break, by which time I had been getting stuck into the beer and sausages.

The home side came close to regaining the lead after the interval when Selçuk Alibaz turned, then beat a defender on the edge of the box before seeing his low shot come back off the far post.

Fortuna went back ahead on sixty six minutes when Markus Pazurek’s cross was glanced home by the head of Mimbala. Home custodian kept out a low free kick from Nico Hammann while Köln responded with a header that clipped the top of the visitors crossbar.

Magdeburg piled on the pressure as the home goal led a charmed life on a couple of occasions before referee Aarnink blew his whistle to bring proceedings to a halt. I’d made an escape a couple of minutes earlier to beat the crowds.

I took a couple of trams; changing once again at Friesenplatz, before heading to Wiener Platz where I knew that there would be some kind of stores as I required a new continental plug to charge my Iphone before heading to the evening game at Bayer Leverkusen, which can be read about here.