TuS Köln (Germany)

TuS Köln

Ground: Sportpark Höhenberg

Capacity: 1,000

Club Founded: 1874

League: Kreisliga B2 Köln - 9th Tier (current level)

Like many suburban clubs, TuS Köln make the most of its facilities, including an all-weather pitch, to provide a decent standard of football to its many sides, benefiting the local community.

A Brief History of TuS Köln

Turn-und Sportverein Köln rechtsrheinisch 1874 e.V., to give the club its full title, is a sports club based in Cologne. Formed as Kalk 1874, it moved to its own facility at Merheimer Heide in the Höhenberg district in 1919. A merger with Turnverein Köln-Höhenberg e. V. took place in 1946 to form the current club. 

Sections are also provided in tennis, fitness and gymnastics, karate, rugby, swimming and athletics, as well as football for its members. The first team has played in the lower district divisions of Köln football for the vast majority of their history.

Once the men's team dropped to the tenth tier, Kreisliga C, it was put into abeyance. The women’s first team gave the club the most prominence after taking over champion side SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach, before passing on their license to Bayer Leverkusen in 2008 and then rebuilding the section. 

The men’s first team returned to action in 2008-09, playing in the eleventh-level Kreisliga D. TuS finished and went up a level three seasons later before returning to their previous status. Further promotions and relegations ensued.

The team won their Kreisliga C title in 2019-20, reaching the ninth tier of German football. The leap proved too much as TuS Köln went back down a couple of seasons later. Hüseyin Aydin took charge of the side that won promotion to Kreisliga B2 Köln in 2024-25.

My visits

Friday 26th October 2012

I was in Germany for the first of four days of football and socialising, and was starting my adventures on the banks of the Rhine in the city of Cologne. I had already visited the home of Fortuna Köln and Viktoria Köln.

It was as I was leaving Viktoria’s Flugafen Stadion that my attention was drawn to a venue across the lane with a track, a pitch with goalposts and a clubhouse.

The TuS-Anlage Sportpark Höhenberg arena was basically a running track with dugouts on the far side, and a couple of steps of terracing down the home straight, backed with a few park benches, and a cinder-surfaced pitch behind.

After taking my photos, I headed back down the lane to Frankfurter Strasse to catch a tram, alighting early and ending up outside Köln Arena, and caught a train to the Hauptbahnhof from Messe station.

Tuesday 10th August 2021

I was in Germany for a weekend break to enjoy some football after Covid restrictions were lifted slightly. All had gone well, and I’d had fun with friends old and new. I thought everything was complete and ready for my flight home when I became rather alarmed.

I’d returned to my hotel after the Viktoria Köln game in the DFB Pokal and realised that I’d overlooked the requirement of a negative Covid test to board my flight. In short, it was a real carry-on, but I managed to get sorted.

The irony being the test was out in the car park at Sportpark Höhenberg, where I’d watched the game the night before and where TuS are based. Naturally, I went to have a look at the venue while I was there to see if there had been any upgrades since my previous visit. The main pitch now had a 3G surface.