In the first 17 games of the Regionalliga West, Fortuna Cologne lost only once and stormed to first place. The winning streak started at Wuppertaler SV – their upcoming opponent.

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

Matthias Mink does not want to celebrate the autumn championship title too much. “You can’t buy anything with it. Nevertheless, it naturally gives us more confidence and makes us proud. It doesn’t affect our daily work, but it’s a nice snapshot,” says the head coach. Fortuna last became autumn champions in 2013, when current RWE coach Uwe Koschinat was on the Cologne bench. One reason for the strong season so far, with only one defeat (9 wins, 7 draws), is the good defensive work. Goalkeeper Lennart Winkler has only had to pick the ball out of the net 15 times. “I think he is a factor for us, for our stability and defensive organization. But that is always a product of the team,” explains Mink. “It’s a nice side effect for him and his goalkeeping, but overall it’s the team that is doing extremely well and always works very well defensively. In some phases, they also had the necessary luck, which is also part of it – nevertheless, you can see from the 17 games that they have worked well and found their feet as a team.”

Fortuna picked up their first points of the season with a 2-0 win in the opening game at the Stadion am Zoo and will start as favorites against Wuppertal, who are threatened with relegation. “We know about their qualities in transition play; they have extreme speed. They are a team that plays very passionate soccer and works very hard,” warns Mink, who clearly wants to end the year with a win. “We know what to expect and are prepared. Of course, we want to win this first game of the second half of the season – especially this home game on a Friday evening.”

After the last game of the first half of the season, the players will undergo performance diagnostics on Monday (December 8) before going on vacation. They will then return in the new year according to individual plans. Training will resume on January 4.