In the first 17 games of the Regionalliga West, Fortuna Cologne 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 team from the south of the city 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 fall championship title too much. “You can’t buy anything with it. Still, of course, it gives us more confidence and makes us hold our heads high. None of this affects our day-to-day work, but it’s a nice snapshot,” the head coach notes. Fortuna last won the fall championship in 2013, when Uwe Koschinat—now the coach of RWE—was on the Cologne bench.
One reason for the strong season so far, with just one loss (9 wins, 7 draws), is the team’s solid defensive play. Goalkeeper Lennart Winkler has conceded only 15 goals. “I believe he’s a key factor for us, contributing to 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 extremely well and always works very hard defensively. At times, they’ve also had the necessary luck—that’s part of it, too—but looking at the 17 games as a whole, you can see that they’ve worked hard and found their rhythm as a team.”
In the season opener, Fortuna secured their first points of the season with a 2–0 victory 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’re extremely fast. They’re a team that plays soccer with a lot of passion and puts in a lot of running,” 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 game of the second half of the season—especially this home game on a Friday night.”
After the final match of the first half of the season, the team will first undergo performance testing on Monday (December 8) before the pros head off on vacation. They’ll then reconvene in the new year according to individual plans. Training is set to resume on January 4.