Baumgart and 1. FC Köln take on Czech club 1. FC Slovácko this Thursday evening
Source: dpa/Marius Becker
Champions League, Europa League or Conference League? For Steffen Baumgart, each of the European Cup competitions has a catch. And the coach of 1. FC Köln is certain: the controversial Super League will come for the top clubs.
Steffen Baumgart expects the controversial Super League in football to come. “The debate about the Super League is picking up steam, the debate about abolishing 50 plus 1 – we’re going to discuss all of this until we have it. I think it’s just a matter of time,” said the coach of Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln in an interview with “SZ”: “Those who want to enforce such a league, no matter how the whole thing ends up being scolded, whether Superleague or otherwise, they will find a way.”
Most recently, the three top clubs Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin with the German Bernd Reichart at the helm had started a new attempt for a European Super League. The Superliga project failed in its original form in April 2021. Uefa, which organizes the most important international club competition at the moment, the Champions League, put up massive resistance.
But Baumgart, who himself stands for “old-fashioned football and tradition”, as he says, is also attracted to the format of the premier class. “What I don’t like is the regulation of the competitions as a whole: a Champions League has to be a league of champions, not for places one to four in Germany, England, Spain, Italy. Then it’s a disguised Super League,” explained the 50-year-old. AS Roma won the Conference League this year because they were kicked out in the Europa League and “were allowed to continue one floor down. That doesn’t work for me.”
“Isn’t that even discriminatory?” asks the Cologne coach
With the Conference League, where the people of Cologne have to play at 1. FC Slovacko this Thursday (6.45 p.m. / RTL +), Uefa “give the little ones a candy. But she thereby confirms the two-tier society between the rich and those who are not big names. Isn’t that even discriminatory?” he asked. If Uefa created this competition for the small countries, “then they must also explain that they are the ones who excluded these small countries from the Champions League. That’s how you have to say it,” said Baumgart.
Despite new staff worries and noticeable wear and tear, 1. FC Köln wants and needs to score points at 1. FC Slovácko in order to maintain their chances of progressing in the Conference League. After the fourth defeat in the fifth competitive game at 0:5 in Mainz last Friday, Cologne would like to do better in the duel with the Czech club for the captain and former Leverkusen professional Michal Kadlec in Uherské Hradiste.
However, the staffing problems have increased. It is to be feared that Kristian Pedersen and Jonas Hector will not be there. “In Jonas, someone who is a special player for us is out. That spoils the mood,” complained Baumgart.
The Cologne captain sustained a wound on his left foot during the final training session. “You’ve got shit on your feet, you’ve got shit on your feet,” Baumgart commented on the ongoing bad luck with injuries. In addition to Hector and Pedersen, Dejan Ljubicic, Julian Chabot, Tim Lemperle, Mathias Olesen and Jan Thielmann are also unavailable.
Irrespective of the failures, Baumgart is doing everything in his power to stay in European competition with his team. After the 4:2 in the first duel with Slovácko and the 1:1 in Nice, Cologne would be safe in the next round with two wins in the remaining group games in Slovácko and next Thursday at home against Nice.
The Czechs will by no means make it easy for the Cologne team, who were once again not allowed to sell away tickets as a result of a Uefa penalty. “I’m sure that Cologne has respect,” said Kadlec in an interview with the “Kölnische Rundschau”: “I expect an open game. At the moment it looks as if Belgrade will go through first and that a three-way battle will develop between Nice, Cologne and us for second place in the play-off.”
Going into the 5th matchday, FC are third in the table (four points) and one point behind Nice and four behind Belgrade in the top two places. Only the first in the group qualifies directly for the round of 16. The eight second move into an upstream knockout round against the eight Europa League relegated.
