SC Fortuna Köln, or Sport Club Fortuna Köln e.V. to give them their full title, are a football club based in the German city of Cologne who were formed on the 21st February 1948 following the merger of three clubs; Victoria Köln 1911, Bayenthaler SV 1920, and Sparkassen-Verein Köln 1927.
Fortuna played regional football. a new wealthy President, Jean Loring assisted the club's playing side, with the club reaching the Bundesliga in 1974 for a short spell. In 1976 FC Alter Markt Köln were absorbed into Fortuna. As a second tier side the club fought all the way to the 1983 DFB Pokal (German Cup) Final, before losing to a goal from Pierre Littbarski saw their neighbours 1FC Köln lift the cup.
Three years later Fortuna nearly reached 1 Bundesliga once more, but were denied in the play-offs by Borussia Dortmund. Relegation to the third tier was avoided to 1992 only because Blau-Weiss 90 Berlin were denied a license for the following season. Loring was ousted from power in 2000, but it would appear that the grass wasn't greener on the other side as Fortuna were bankrupt five years later and unable to compete in league football.
The clubs youth structure was rescued as the senior side started again at the fifth level (at the time) Verbandsliga Mittelrhein before a promotion was won to Nordrhein-Westfalen-Liga in 2008. Around the same time the club ownership fell into the hands of the web based venture Deinfussballclub.de, in a similar move to Ebbsfleet United at the same time.
After re-organisation of the leagues', Fortuna were placed in Regionalliga West in 2011, where they ended in seventh place.
SC Fortuna Köln will play in Regionalliga West in the 2013-14 season.
My visit
Friday 26th October 2012
I had the weekend off work and with my own club Scarborough Athletic not having a fixture, I decided to venture once more to North West Germany. I travelled solo on this occasion purely to get to some new stadiums without the distractions of some absolutely top pals who are great company but their presence would be more likely to end in a review of bars and restaurants various!
My flight had dropped me at Cologne/Bonn airport and I had purchased a regional daily rail ticket for Euro 25. I had done my planning, but I amended my schedule to see a couple of venues in Cologne before heading to my hotel in Dusseldorf where I was to spend a couple of nights.
The train arrived at Cologne Hauptbanhof and although I'd been to the city on a few occasions in the past, I still needed to find my bearings. The early alarm call in my Gatwick hotel had caught up with me. I got myself together and found the KVB local tram service under the station. After a change I alighted at Pohligstrasse, which was just across Am Vorgebirgstor from Sudstadion.
I looked through the railed gates and saw a man blowing the autumn leaves and tidying the stadium in preparation for the following weeks encounter with FC Kray. I caught his attention and tried to converse and get him to open the gate to let me in for a few minutes, to no avail. However, I was not to be beaten as I walked around and got myself enough good views for my photos.
Sudstadion was a multi use stadium with the playing area being surrounded by an athletics track. It had a bank of open terracing all the way around it, with one long covered seated stand down the finishing straight of the track.
After taking my snaps I headed back to the tram stop in readiness to head to my next club of the morning; FC Viktoria Köln 1904
No comments:
Post a Comment