Coach Timo Schultz hopes for a future at 1. FC Köln even in the event of relegation to the second division.

“Regardless of the league, I can imagine working here well beyond the summer. I plan to be here for longer,” the 46-year-old told kicker. If the Rhinelanders are relegated, his contract will end after this season.

However, coaches “always have the goal of building something up”, said the coach of the Bundesliga’s penultimate-placed team: “That would fit in really well at FC, because the team has already grown together on the one hand and on the other hand there are players who identify with the club and will develop.”

Steffen Baumgart’s successor was reminiscent of his colleague Christian Streich, who took SC Freiburg down to the second division after their relegation in the 2014/15 season and only retired this summer after more than twelve years. “I’m curious to see whether that would be possible at a place like Cologne like it is in Freiburg,” said Schultz.

With eight matchdays to go until the end of the season, FC are in 17th place, one point behind the relegation places. “Draws like the last one won’t help us move forward,” said Schultz – and with a view to the final spurt, which begins with the away game at FC Augsburg after the international break, he demanded: “We have to win games. We have to get that into our heads: We have to take more risks. “