The winners of the very first Bundesliga title in 1963-64, FC Köln have had a mixed history in the intervening period, having dropped down to the second flight no scarcer than five times over the recent decades and most lately in 2011/12. The Billy Goats' famous nickname dates back to 1950, when a circus presented the club with a Billy Goat as a carnival joke. This goat, which was implemented as the club's official mascot and currently in its eighth manifestation, is a core of the pre-match program when FC Köln are playing at the Rhein Energie Stadion. A club that is supported tremendously around the North-Rhine Westphalia, FC Köln has approximately 54,000 club members. ‘The Billy Goats’’ have been German Champions three times and the DFB Pokal cup winners four times, but have not seen a major trophy since 1983.
In contemporary years, the club's enactment has been diverse. FC Köln holds the worst goal drought in Bundesliga history as in 2002, the supporters had to wait nearly twelve games until Polish player Thomas Cichon eventually located the back of the net, which seemed to end the psychological threat to ‘The Billy Goats’’.
In the premature years of the Bundesliga, FC Köln were the most successful club in West Germany in terms of total points obtained. Commencing in the early 1990s, however, the club's performance tumbled and in 1998, they were relegated for the first time in their illustrious history. With the turn of the millennium come and gone, FC Köln have never really been able to acquire any consistency and have turned into a fragment of a yo-yo team, as they have been moving between the first and second divisions.
In the 04-05 season FC Köln returned to the top flight of German football as 2. Bundesliga champions after they were relegated in the season before. When arriving in the Bundesliga they were written off by many critiques and were chosen by German football magazine ‘Kicker’ as the favourite club to be relegated. In the end ‘Kicker’ could rub their hands in glory, as their prognostication was spot on with ‘The Billy Goats’’ losing to Hamburger SV 1–0 towards the final stage of the season, which confirmed their relegation mathematically. To add insult to injury, they finished seventeenth and were awarded with conceding the leagues most goals, seventy one.
In the year of 2006, previous coach Christophe Daum decided to come to the 2. Bundesliga club and it appeared to be a shrewd decision as he led them back to 1. Bundesliga in 2008. In 2010/11 season FC Köln were relegated back to the second tier of German football finishing in seventeenth place. Last season under new trainer Holger Stanislawski, FC Köln finished in fifth place and just missed out on promotion back to the top tier. They feel that they should be back with the big boys and this was felt by the club themselves when Holger Stanislawski had his contract terminated in May 2012 after the game against FC Ingolstadt 04.
At the moment current head coach Peter Stöger has got his players’ performing to the maximum as they sit in first place with thirty points. They are sitting very comfortably with a plus seventeen goal difference, conceding only seven goals all season and scoring twenty four in the league. The only problem FC Köln may have is that they simply have no room to slip up, as the league is so tight. There are only seven points differences between them and seventh place 1860 Munchen. So they have to continue their good form if they want to have a chance of gaining promotion at the end of the season.
In their last game, FC Köln performed fantastically as they beat FC St Pauli 3-0 away from home at the Millerntor-Stadion. They were 2-0 ahead by half time through Kevin Wimmer and local boy Patrick Helmes. ‘The Billy Goats’’ completed their thrilling performance when Yannick Gerhardt made it 3-0. Head coach Peter Stöger opted for a four-four-two formation and unbelievably overran FC St Pauli in midfield, even though they had five in the middle of the park. FC Köln won 55.94% of the tackles throughout the game and had twenty three attempts on goal with the majority of these shots happening inside of the box, thirteen. FC Köln also dominated with their passing game as they completed 80.29% of them having 597 touches of the ball throughout the encounter with ‘Die Freibeuter der Liga’.
When assessing the players of FC Köln, they have many influential individuals and these individuals may be the reason for FC Köln’s good form this season. Their goalkeeper Timo Horn has had a very good campaign so far, conceding only seven goals and gaining nine clean sheets out of the seventeen games played. He has saved 87.5% of the shots that have come his way and made five ‘outstanding saves’. Timo Horn can have Slovenian Dominic Maroh to thank for some of his clean sheets, as he has been stupendous for the majority of the campaign. He has been very dominant for FC Köln and the statistics support him even more. He has attempted to make 988 passes this season and completed 89.3% and attempted 181 tackles succeeding 58.6% of them.
One player that has performed well this season has been Marcel Risse who plays in midfield. He has scored eight goals this season for ‘The Billy Goats’’ and is the top goal scorer this season. Another is the Nigerian forward Anthony Ujah as he has scored four goals this season. He has created seventy four chances for his team mates and gained two assists. His partner in crime Patrick Helmes has scored three goals for FC Köln and he has three assists, creating sixty eight chances for colleagues. ‘The Billy Goats’’ have many players that they can rely on throughout the season but they will want to continue this good form.
They have three games left until the Christmas break and have FSV Frankfurt 1899 next at home in the league. They will want to be top for Christmas and this would be a great present for the supporters giving everyone at the football club a huge psychological boost over their rivals.
By James Williams @GermanBuLi