The Köln Sentinel
Market24 Aug 2026
Matthias Köbbing asks to leave Köln
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Köln
Ísak Jóhannesson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Köln
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Jakub Kamiński falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market24 Aug 2026
Stefan Berger steps up from the Köln academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefan Berger has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market24 Aug 2026
One of our own: Helmut Jäger joins the Köln first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Helmut Jäger is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market Köln promote Gregor Thomas from within
- Squad A season on the outside for Fynn Schenten
- Boardroom Köln spend it where nobody looks
- Squad Good reports on Luca Waldschmidt