In the first 17 games of the Regionalliga West, Fortuna Köln lost only once and surged to first place. The winning streak began against Wuppertaler SV—their upcoming opponent.

Last weekend, Fortuna Cologne capped off its strong first half of the season with a 4-0 victory over Sportfreunde Lotte, securing the fall championship of the Regionalliga West. But before the well-deserved winter break, the South City team still has one game left to play: on Friday (December 5, 7:30 p.m.), Wuppertaler SV will be visiting Cologne.

Matthias Mink doesn’t want to celebrate the title of fall champion too much. “You can’t buy anything with that. Still, it naturally gives us more confidence and makes us hold our heads high. None of this affects our daily work, but it’s a nice snapshot,” the head coach notes. Fortuna last won the fall championship in 2013, when current RWE coach Uwe Koschinat was on the Cologne bench.

One reason for the strong season so far—with just one loss (9 wins, 7 draws)—is the solid defensive work. Goalkeeper Lennart Winkler has only had to pick the ball out of the net 15 times. “I believe he’s a key factor for us, for our stability and defensive cohesion. But that’s always a team effort,” explains Mink. “It’s a nice bonus for him and his goalkeeping, but overall it’s the team that’s performing exceptionally well and always works very hard defensively. At times, they’ve also had the necessary luck—that’s part of it—but looking at the 17 games, you can see that they’ve worked hard and the team has gelled.”

In the season opener, Fortuna secured their first points of the season with a 2-0 win at the Stadion am Zoo and will start as favorites against Wuppertal, who are fighting relegation. “We’re aware of their strengths in transition play; they possess incredible speed. It’s a team that plays soccer with great passion and works very hard on the run,” warns Mink, who clearly wants to end the year with a win. “We know what to expect and are prepared. Needless to say, we want to win this first match of the second half of the season—especially this home game on a Friday night.”

After the final first-half match, the team will first undergo performance diagnostics on Monday (December 8) before the pros head off on vacation. They will then reconvene in the new year according to individual plans. Training is set to resume on January 4.