34th matchday
1:4 in Heidenheim: Cologne is relegated from the Bundesliga
It wasn’t enough for FC to stay in the league. In the background, the people of Heidenheim are celebrating a convincing premiere season. photo
© Harry Langer/dpa
Before the game, 1. FC Köln still had a chance to at least jump to relegation place 16. In Heidenheim, the people of Domstadt lost their way early on and had to go down for the seventh time.
The Heidenheimers, whose coach Frank Schmidt was missing due to an ankle operation, ended their first season in the top division in eighth place. This would entitle you to take part in the Conference League playoffs if Bayer Leverkusen wins the DFB Cup final against second division team 1. FC Kaiserslautern on May 25th.
The fact that the Cologne team were denied a jump to relegation place 16 in front of 15,000 spectators was partly due to the victory of their rivals 1. FC Union Berlin against SC Freiburg. But above all because of their own appearance and Eren Dinkci. The FCH winger said goodbye to Freiburg with a brace (16th/22nd). Kevin Sessa (36th) and Jan-Niklas Beste (78th) also scored worth seeing. The guests only managed to make it 1:3 (64′) thanks to Steffen Tigges.
FC hoped until the end
“We believe in it until the end,” Cologne coach Timo Schultz explained in advance. “We know that we think in many eventualities. But above all we know that we have to win our game. We want to do our homework.”
This plan quickly fell out of reach for his team. On Heidenheim’s first goal, Dinkci benefited from Jeff Chabot’s unstoppable deflecting of the ball. Six minutes later, Faride Alidou lost the ball on the halfway line. Tim Kleindienst played the ball into the path of Dinkci, who increased. At the third and fourth Heidenheimer goals, Sessa and Beste took advantage of their freedom.
As has been the case so often this season, there was too little from Cologne on the offensive for a long time. The substitution of attacker Mark Uth provided a little more momentum. Tigges scored the 1:3 with his head. But the guests couldn’t get any closer because Uth was denied by Kevin Müller (69′). The lack of efficiency has been a major drawback all season. The weakest attack in the entire league with 28 goals also had to repeatedly struggle with injury-related failures. Davie Selke, the club’s top scorer with six goals, was also missing from Heidenheim.
However, the reasons for the renewed relegation are complex and not just due to the lack of offensive power. The losses of some top performers such as Jonas Hector, who ended his career at the end of the previous season, could not be compensated for. There was also an unfortunate transfer policy in the summer, which could not be corrected by the FIFA transfer ban in the winter.
This sanction, which will also apply in the coming summer – only players who have been loaned out can be brought back – is likely to pose huge problems for Cologne. Especially since some regulars like Selke are about to leave after their first relegation since 2018.
Table Squad 1. FC Heidenheim Squad 1. FC Cologne