Marked for Linton Maina
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 matches without a win for Köln
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Köln are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 matches without a goal for Köln
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Köln heard it as anything else.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Köln
Thijs Dallinga 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Marcel Ruiz 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marius Bülter, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Köln may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Jan 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Köln can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Köln
Thijs Dallinga 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Köln
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market18 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ísak Jóhannesson has his answer from Köln; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thijs Dallinga, and the manager let it.
Market18 Jan 2027
One of our own: Stefan Peters joins the Köln first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stefan Peters is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club America have kept their man, and Köln go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
$2.8M settles it between the clubs for Nathan De Cat
TSG Hoffenheim have accepted the money. What Köln do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Both of them Tom Krauß's — 8.23
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.23, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Köln
Thijs Dallinga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Köln
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tom Krauß. 2‑1 against Werder Bremen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Köln
Thijs Dallinga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Köln
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match5 Dec 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Víctor Pérez had Köln level again within 3 minutes, and Borussia Dortmund never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anton Keller after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Saïd El Mala makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Romeo Vučić
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Nov 2026
Köln bow out of the cup
Eintracht Frankfurt go through and Köln go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match21 Nov 2026
No mercy from Köln
Bayer Leverkusen will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Köln were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad23 Nov 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Köln
Thijs Dallinga 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Köln
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Borna Sosa beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Marius Bülter asks for a word with the manager
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The dugout
When it matters, Linton Maina plays
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Köln lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market26 Oct 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Köln
Thijs Dallinga 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Köln training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Ruiz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Both jobs done by Linton Maina — 7.11
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.11, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Anton Keller left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ameen Al-Dakhil
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Köln lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey reports back to Köln with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Köln
Thijs Dallinga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Marcel Ruiz 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Tom Krauß
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tom Krauß, and the manager let it.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Otto has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: René Mayer joins the Köln first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. René Mayer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Köln against St. Pauli
0‑1 to St. Pauli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.