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Fortuna Köln
Full name	Sport-Club Fortuna Köln e.V.
Founded	1948; 77 years ago
Ground	Südstadion
Capacity	11,748
Chairman	Hanns-Jörg Westendorf
Head coach	Matthias Mink
League	Regionalliga West
2023–24	4th
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

SC Fortuna Köln is a German association football club based in the city of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia.

History

The club was formed as on 21 February 1948 through the merger of three local sides: Victoria Köln 1911 (one of two clubs to bear the name), Bayenthaler SV 1920, and Sparkassen-Verein Köln 1927. Of these clubs, Victoria had the best results, winning its way to the first division of the Gauliga Köln-Aachen in 1941 and capturing the division title there the following season. Bayenthaler SV 1920 side also spent a season in the Gauliga in 1943–44 before the division collapsed as war overtook the region. In 1976, SC Fortuna Köln was joined by FC Alter Markt Köln.

Through most of the last four decades Fortuna has played as a second division side. Highlights of the club's history include promotion to the Bundesliga for the 1974 season and an impressive run through the 1983 DFB-Pokal. The team took out SC Freiburg in the first round and eked out a win on penalties over SSV Ulm 1846 in their next match. They then eliminated three first division sides in a row: first Eintracht Braunschweig and Borussia Mönchengladbach, before crushing Borussia Dortmund 5–0 in their semi-final match. This put them into the final against hometown rivals 1. FC Köln, the first time the Cup final had come down to a local derby. Although they outplayed their opposition, Fortuna's magic had run out and they lost 0–1 on a late goal by Pierre Littbarski.

In 1986, the side came close to a return to the Bundesliga, but was beaten by Borussia Dortmund in the promotion round. Each team had won their home match in a two-game series, which forced a third contest under the rules in effect at the time. Instead of advancing on the strength of away goals, Fortuna was crushed 0–8 by Borussia Dortmund. A handful of seasons later the club avoided relegation to third-tier football at the end of the 1991–92 schedule only when division rivals Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin were denied a licence.

One of the key features of Fortuna's history was the presidency of deep-pocketed Jean Löring. Beginning in 1967, the millionaire's support of the club helped them to continue to field competitive sides for much longer than they might otherwise have. In 1982, he even helped out in another way: trained as an electrician, he personally fixed the floodlights when they failed during a match against SV Darmstadt 98 so the game could go on. Löring, who had been an Oberliga player himself with Alemannia Aachen in his younger years, was ousted as president in 2000 and the club soon deteriorated. In 2005 the club failed financially and was forced to withdraw from league play.

Since 2008, the club has been owned (like Ebbsfleet United F.C.) partially by the web-based venture deinfussballclub.de.^[1] Until 2008, the SCF played in the fifth division Verbandsliga Mittelrhein, gaining promotion with a second-place finish to the new Oberliga Nordrhein-Westfalen. Fortuna Köln finished Oberliga as ninth in 2008–09, as 15th in 2009–10 season and as third in 2010–2011 saison. From the 2011–12 season the club played in the Regionalliga West until in 2014 they won that league and beat the second team of Bayern Munich to get promoted to the German third league.

Despite insolvency, the club was able to salvage its youth department, one of the largest in Germany with over 500 players on 25 teams, through a fundraising campaign organized by the former chairman Egbert Bischoff that included a benefit game against 1. FC Köln.

Recent chairman Klaus Ulonska once competed in the 1962 European Championships in Athletics, co-winning the 4 × 100 m Relay.

Honours

League

Regionalliga West (IV)
- Winners: 2013–14
Verbandsliga Mittelrhein (V)
- Winners: 2007–08

Cups

DFB-Pokal
- Runners-up: 1982–83
Middle Rhine Cup
- Winners: 2012–13

Players

Current squad

As of 15 September 2024^[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	GER	Felix Buer
2	DF	GER	Dominik Ernst (captain)
3	DF	GER	Maximilian Fischer
4	DF	GER	Barne Pernot
5	DF	GER	Seymour Fünger
6	MF	GER	Joshua Chima Eze
7	MF	GER	Kingsley Sarpei
8	MF	CRO	Stipe Batarilo
9	FW	GER	Hendrik Mittelstädt
10	MF	GER	Arnold Budimbu
11	FW	GER	Marvin Mika
13	FW	GER	Tim Birkenheuer
14	MF	GER	Henri Matter
17	MF	GER	Joel Vieting


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	DF	GER	Finn Bauens
19	FW	GER	Salim Hadouchi
20	MF	POL	Adrian Stanilewicz
21	DF	GER	Max Wiese
22	DF	GER	Robin Afamefuna
23	DF	GER	Abdul-Wahid Bancé
24	DF	GER	Achunike Ekene
26	DF	GER	Younes Derbali
27	MF	GER	Gianluis Di Fine
28	MF	GER	Nik Orth
29	FW	GER	Danny Breitfelder
30	GK	GER	Lennart Winkler
31	MF	GER	Julius Biada
33	GK	GER	Lennart Stollenwerk

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:^[3]^[4]^[5]

Year	Division	Tier	Position
1967–68	Regionalliga West	II	16th
1972–73	Regionalliga West	II	2nd ↑
1973–74	1. Bundesliga	I	17th ↓
1999–2000	2. Bundesliga	II	16th ↓
2000–01	Regionalliga Nord	III	4th
2001–02	Regionalliga Nord	III	18th ↓
2002–03	Oberliga Nordrhein	IV	10th
2003–04	Oberliga Nordrhein		8th
2004–05	Oberliga Nordrhein		18th ↓
2005–06	Verbandsliga Mittelrhein	V	7th
2006–07	Verbandsliga Mittelrhein		9th
2007–08	Verbandsliga Mittelrhein		2nd ↑
2008–09	NRW-Liga	V	9th
2009–10	NRW-Liga		14th
2010–11	NRW-Liga		3rd ↑
2011–12	Regionalliga West	IV	7th
2012–13	Regionalliga West		2nd
2013–14	Regionalliga West		1st ↑
2014–15	3. Liga	III	14th
2015–16	3. Liga		11th
2016–17	3. Liga		16th
2017–18	3. Liga		8th
2018–19	3. Liga		19th ↓
2019–20	Regionalliga West	IV	10th
2020–21	Regionalliga West		4th
2021–22	Regionalliga West		5th
2022–23	Regionalliga West		6th
2023–24	Regionalliga West		4th

Key

↑ Promoted	↓ Relegated

Women's football

The women's football department was founded 2003 and has experienced rapid growth. The team had been often qualified as winner of the Middle Rhine Cup for the DFB-Pokal Frauen.

In the season 2024/25 the women's team will take part in the third-tier Regionalliga West. 2023/25 the team is in the Eighth-finals of DFB-Pokal Frauen.^[6]

Famous Fortuna players

References

^ "Deinfussballklub.De" (in German). Retrieved 21 July 2011.
^ Fortuna Köln squad 2024/2025
^ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables. Retrieved 3 December 2015
^ SC Fortuna Köln (in German) Fussball.de. Retrieved 3 December 2015
^ 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
^ Achtelfinale Sportschau