Legionnaire Baumgart leads the FC into the carnival

You have every reason to celebrate. After the 3-0 victory over Champions League round of 16 Eintracht Frankfurt, 1. FC Köln have a comfortable lead over the relegation zone. Nine points ahead of relegation place 16, nine points behind a place in the European Cup - Steffen Baumgart's team is right on target. Therefore, the team can also celebrate the Cologne carnival carefree. And as is so often the case, her coach goes first.

As a Roman in heavy armour, Baumgart celebrated his first carnival session as coach of 1. FC Köln. "For me it's all a start, so I'm looking forward to every single situation of getting to know the carnival," said the 51-year-old. Baumgart has been the FC coach since the summer of 2021, but the traditional meeting was canceled last year, as in the two years before, due to the corona pandemic. "My personal goal is to be able to celebrate carnival again next year as FC coach. Then I would have already achieved a lot, then we would be on the right track.”

Like Baumgart, the members of the board and management dressed up as Romans, but not all the same. Sports director Christian Keller, for example, came as General Julius Caesar. It is not known whether he gave orders to Baumgart.

Some professionals were also very creative. Timo Hübers went as Forrest Gump, Captain Jonas Hector dressed up as Harry Potter, Ellyes Skhiri was an astronaut.

The carnival session was just another celebration in FC's party marathon. Just last Monday, the club celebrated its 75th birthday in the Lanxess Arena with 8,500 guests. "All the pictures and experiences around the club create the typical FC Jeföhl, which tells of solidarity at all times. The association is deeply rooted in the city and region and is involved in a wide variety of social issues. We are all happy and proud that this club enriches the sports city of Cologne," said Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker.