Where the Balkans begins, there are different opinions in the popular perception of the Germans. Some Westerners think they start where the first churches with onion domes stand; for quite a few Cologne residents, on the other hand, the Balkans – synonymous with a different, more exotic Europe – begin on the other side of the Rhine. The district of Höhenberg, home of FC Viktoria Köln, is therefore deep in foreign territory for them, a classification that Franz Wunderlich describes as “old customs” – and rejects the content. “In the end,” says Viktoria’s sports director, “we’re all from Cologne.”
Despite the efforts to unite the city, the 58-year-old club official and entrepreneur does not want to hide the differences. “It’s a bit more upscale on the left bank of the Rhine, the working people are on the right bank,” she summarizes Wunderlich. When it comes to football, however, the boundaries are lost in river water. “My club on the right of the Rhine” is one of the slogans of the traditional club founded in 1904, but the move from the Höhenberger Sportpark to the Müngersdorfer Stadion for the cup game against FC Bayern is not difficult for Viktoria.
Sports director of Viktoria Köln for years: Franz Wunderlich, 58.
(Foto: Herbert Bucco/Imago)
At first they actually considered staying on their own land, but that wouldn’t have been a good decision: the tickets have been sold out for weeks, 50,000 spectators will be in the stadium, the third division team is cashing in. Especially since FC Bayern should be extremely generous when it comes to sharing the income. “Outstanding” was the support provided by the guests from Munich, praised managing director Eric Bock.
“The Bavarians have style and class,” commented Franz Wunderlich, thereby making a commitment: He has been a Bayern fan for a long time, he explains. The starting point for his conversion was the death of his best friend at the time, Maurice Banach. After his accident on a wet November Sunday in 1991, Uli Hoeneß was one of the first to offer condolences to the widow, says Wunderlich. “One man, one word” is what the Cologne football manager appreciates about his former Munich colleague – not least because they have something in common with this way of life.
When the hopeful goalscorer Banach died, Wunderlich was part of the extended squad of 1. FC Köln. He had made his debut in the Bundesliga the previous season under coach Erich Rutemöller: in a game against FC Bayern, which FC won 4-0, he came on for the goalscorer Olaf Janßen, and that Olaf Janßen is now the Viktoria’s coach, while Rutemöller is guaranteed to come to the game on Wednesday evening, as he lives just around the corner.
Such family tree stories have also contributed to the fact that Wunderlich, one may say, is addicted to football, “infected” he calls it with a sigh. After his career as a player in the FC Oberliga team, he worked as a trainer and manager of two amateur clubs in Cologne. He has been a member of the Viktoria management for eleven years, first as a sporting director and then as a board member. He also runs his building cleaning company, founded in 1986, with 300 employees. And although Viktoria was always financially well equipped thanks to the patron Franz-Josef Wernze (previously active at FC), Wunderlich often suffered from his task and his passion.
The generous sponsor “made everything possible” for the club, but that’s why Wunderlich always had the feeling of “having the gun to the head, and then there’s no half-length, then there’s only full throttle”. Not because Wernze pushed him like that, but because he felt obliged to succeed. Nevertheless, Viktoria’s attempts to escape from the Regionalliga West remained in vain for years.
His marriage failed because of the fight for promotion to the third division, says Wunderlich
The fight for promotion to the third division three years ago was “the most intense and brutal time” of his football life, says Wunderlich. In the end, his marriage failed, she couldn’t withstand the pressure and emotions. Appropriately enough, the decisive goal in the decisive game was scored by son Mike, who now belongs to 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
The income from the Bayern game is now helping the club to free itself from its long-standing dependence on the sponsor. Since Wernze is gradually withdrawing, Viktoria has to assert itself in the economically difficult third division on its own. “We are seriously positioned and will always keep one euro more in the till than goes out,” says Wunderlich. Over the past few years, the club has successfully expanded its youth work, a good third of the professional squad has been raised in its own youth. The young team is led by captain Marcel Risse, 32, who has met Bayern several times with 1. FC Köln.
There is a lot at stake on Wednesday evening, but this time Franz Wunderlich does not have to suffer from the pressure to succeed. What should happen to a team from a third division club against one of the best teams in the world? “I said to the boys and the coach: Don’t pee your pants – enjoy it!” says the sports director. And yet the players have their own ideas about enjoyment. How should the cup evening end? “The best way would be to toast the win with a beer,” hopes midfielder Patrick Sontheimer.
