FC Köln

Just recently started a FC Koln career. Just wondering if anybody else has any thoughts/suggestions on how to go about FC Koln?

Struggling for money so will be a real challenge in the early years.

Anybody made any promising cheap transfers?

Hi

I'm in my 3rd season, now manager of Dynamo Dresden, I have a right winger/Right Midfielder called Bryan Henning, I signed him on loan from Hertha Berlin however at the start of the game he starts at Union Berlin. He is only 20/21 on my game I think (without looking) however he is already rated as a good Bundesliga player! I seem to think Hertha signed him for nothing!?!

I also have a Left winger in my Dresden side surname begins with an 'S', he is another good winger, and starts at Dresden at the beginning of the game, recommend him too, maybe more money though!

Appreciated, will check them out and see what I think. Going to try and mainly keep to signing young German & Austrian youth.

Interesting timing. I'm just starting up a new save with Koln on the new update. I had a short save with them on the previous data and have taken quite a liking to them. Hopefully this may help a bit....

Sleeping Giant

This is a label that can be applied to a lot of clubs, but Koln fit the bill. They have a history of success, are financially stable, have a big stadium, and play in a top league. Germany has a great youth rating in the game and Koln have a strong youth academy so there is loads of potential. The Media Prediction is only 16th but I've seen AI managers do very well with Koln in test sims. The squad is reasonably solid to start. Don't expect to win the Bundesliga or conquer Europe without some additions, but there are not really glaring weaknesses off the start - thought it does depend somewhat on how you want to play tactically.

Don't Worry on Money

The starting transfer budget is small, but that doesn't mean you won't get money to spend. The starting balance is healthy, the club has relatively small debt, a big stadium, and the Bundesliga pays pretty decent amounts. Not Prem level prize money but hardly minimal. In the previously mentioned test sim, Koln was regularly spending pretty big sums most years, and not purely because they sold players. Although they did manage some impressive player sales - 30m plus a number of times - they seem to have been getting pretty good amounts to spend regardless. It helps that the club was getting into Europe pretty regularly, but that should be a reasonable goal every season for a club of Koln's stature.

Emulate Real German Clubs

German clubs do very well with youth development, which forms the backbone of the quality in the league. German clubs seem to look to the lower leagues - particularly the 2.Bundesliga - for German talent and there is plenty available there. Like other major leagues, there are plenty of different nationalities at German clubs. German clubs seem to look heavily to their smaller central European nations, Scandinavia, and eastern Europe. You will be able to land players from France and Portugal, even some from Italy, Spain, and England (though this will depend on the club size). However, it can be tougher to find good deals from France and Portugal, as the clubs from the other big leagues scout their heavily. It seems easier to find good deals from clubs in The Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, etc. You do benefit from having no non-EU rules in the Bundesliga - though you do in the DFB-Pokal.

South American players are a bit less common in Germany than in Italy and Spain, though they are hardly rare. Some deals can be had there as well.

It will be some time before you have the money and reputation to land the highest-rated young players. So probably not worth going after the likes of Ruben Neves, Bart Dragowski, Youri Tielmans, and so on. If you want to build with younger players, go for the ones who don't have quite that level of reputation yet.

Scouting Network

This is always a good idea and seems to be something many of us try to do. But its more than just having a bunch of high quality scouts. Its more than just knowing where the high-potential players are. Its making most effective use of those scouts and building knowledge that you can really use. You will be a selling club for a long time, so it makes sense to approach things like Southampton - accepting young players who become stars are going to move on, so have replacement targets in mind.

I find this works most effective if you have a clear idea of how you want to play. That allows you to target players who will best fit your specific approach, rather than simply good and/or promising players who won't necessarily be ideal. So rather than just looking for a new winger, you can have scouts specifically looking for an inside forward type, or a traditional worker, or a more rounded wide midfielder skillset... No use searching for a traditional target man when you really need a creative forward for you tactic.

Look at Bigger Clubs

Although NavyWolf is running a club a bit lower down the leagues, he brings up a great point - keep a close eye on bigger clubs. Big clubs quite commonly have highly-rated youth systems, so plenty of youth prospects in every game, plus many of these clubs are aggressive in pursuing more young players of quality. Not all of whom they make use of. Its like what Chelsea does. Although Chelsea is often able to extract very good fees for the players it sells on, you can sometimes steal a player or two away. Koln's starting squad has a couple of players that were obtained this way in reality. You also want to watch the big clubs for fringe players who may not be good enough to start regularly for the likes of Bayern or Dortmund but might be plenty good enough for a slightly smaller club. Players like Sebastian Rode or Mortiz Leitner. They sometimes have pretty heft wages, but if they are unhappy, the transfer fee can be quite reasonable.

You can also land some decent players on loan, especially if they are good but not amazing youngsters at the bigger clubs. This can benefit you in the short term, obviously - you get a solid squad player. It can potentially help you in the long term - you can build a relationship with the player, with an eye towards eventually landing them on a permanent deal.

Start Scouting Keepers

You have an excellent young German goalkeeper who came through the club. He also has a disappointingly release clause in his contract and won't negotiate a new one right away. So start searching for a potential replacement early. You may be lucky enough to keep him around long-term. But someone does snipe him, the good news is that the money you get is at least moderately reasonable for a keeper and there are plenty of possible replacements out there. Germany is a leading producer of quality goalkeepers, and you can find a number of them in the Netherlands, France, Poland, and so on.

Put in the Work

Landing the player you've targeted isn't always as easy as putting in a bid and meeting the demands of their current club. You can use the media to let the player know of your interest, unsettle them, and slowly build some leverage in the negotiation process. This can save you millions, and can really help you out.

Interesting read Bigpapa, thank you for the information. I shall take note and apply where needed.

Looks like an interesting project does Koln, one that I am hoping spans between 6-10 years. Shall update my progress in a few days time.

Yes, just started a few days ago.

Koln usually does well in my careers, especially if it manages to keep its star players: Bittencourt and Timo Horn.

I suggest trying to invest in young German players, even the ones already owned by bigger clubs that may be willing to loan to your team.

A couple of names? Konigsmann, Weigl, Jean Zimmer, the Eggestein brothers, Max Christiansen, Danny da Costa, Davie Selke, Donis Avdijaj.

Agree with DarkInkCL. There are tons of quality young German players, and there will be more coming as you progress into the game. Germany would be one of the easier nations to build a squad of home nation players only. Once they have a bigger reputation, German kids get expensive - the likes of Draxler, Mane, etc. But before then, they are quite reasonable (at least compared to England).

A couple other thoughts....

The 400K you get to start with isn't much. But you can do more with that than you might think. My hope is to turn it into 2 players. Not top-level players, obviously, or high level prospects. But decent younger players with some potential. I will scout some 2.Bundesliga youngsters but am likely going to target players from nations that aren't very wealthy. This might not work if you don't have a really big DB (and I also retain top division players from a lot of nations), but countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Montenegro, and a few others can sometimes be landed for bargain prices. Its hit or miss in Eastern Europe, but worth doing some scouting. Looking at the youth squads of the national teams can be a good starting point.

There isn't great quality in the system but don't disregard what is there. I was annoyed when I saw that Koln sold their best prospect (Lucas cueto) during the winter window for almost no money. The best they have now is Salih Özcan, who have some decent potential according to the club scouts. Between Koln II and the U19s, there are a few players who could be developed into decent depth players. I think his stats are random, but Szymon Walczak for example has pretty good skills for a young CB in my game.

Tactically, Koln are a bit of a mixed bag. I don't think the starting squad particularly favors any given approach. For example, in Cleon's Art of Posession thread, wpmk posted about using those ideas to create a possession-heavy approach with the club using Cleon's ideals. This despite the club having the worst Passing skill in the league (altho there's more to possession than just Passing skill) and I was able to emulate his success. My intent this game is to use two 4-1-4-1 variations, one for counter and one for possession. Koln look reasonably well suited to a counter approach, even if they aren't overly pacey in the midfield. Given their quality in central midfield, I was tempted to try a narrow formation but given the crossing potency, that seemed less likely to succeed consistently.

I will start a Köln update with the latest update, too, but progressing slowly and on FMT. Still whenever I reach a Landmark I will let you know here.

I started my first FM16 save with Köln. Looking at the squad I decided we need more squad depth on the flanks (so I got Thommy) and at DR. (got Ochs on a free in winter). With many DC injured we could do with on extra there as well (Sarr came in, got injured as well for several month and so that was that). Lassas and Klünter seemed to need a while to be ready for first league football so I loaned them out.

And that's how the squad did overall

Jojic, Bittencourt and Olkowski played constantly well. Osako turned out to be my major disappointment. After his months of injury he suffered a severe goal drought and could never get going.

And that's my mainly used 4-4-1-1. All attempts to get going with 2 strikers clearly failed...

Managed to stay clear from relegation on the last day.

Not especially impressive but ok for me Mid-table finish would be my next target. Will try some squad renovation for next season.

I did start my current save with Koln. Did quite well, finishing 2nd in the first season playing a 4141 counter. I think mostly because the other teams underestimated the club. I managed to keep Horn which was the best news at the end of the season. I signed Assombalonga as my main striker from Forest and in the second season I finished 1st! using a 4141 counter for away games and 442 control for home games. I then resigned as the board would not consider any of the requests and weren't putting any sort of money for transfers while expecting the winning streak to continue. Using the starting squad, there are some really good players. I had crazy money offers at the end of the first season for the full backs who were by far my best players (leading on assists).

SInce i've left, they have moved back to mid-table in the league.

Impressive achievement, tarbanrael, to win the league with Koln. I was proud enough to reach 6th place in season 2. Unfortunately that didn't mean reaching Europe as the Bundesliga in year 1 lost one spot to Italy... I am usually on a 4-4-2, counter away and control at home.

Had a good youth intake after season 1 with two youngsters chased by Bayern and Barca. I sold one but want to Keep the other (PA for 4-5 stars). Barca bid 8 Mio for him and he's 16y.

My main Goal is to settle in mid-table and slowly reach for Europe.

Yes and I did it with pretty much the starting squad. Hector and Olkowski (spelling) were magnificent and Modeste just kept on scoring! We got a lot of 1-0 victories. Maroh was pretty much injured for the season sor Sorensen and Heintz were the main defenders ahead of Horn. First season I got a couple of loans in: a striker who did not play much and a right back from Bordeaux (who really impressed but when he was transfer listed his wages were ridiculously high). First season I got a really promising left back but he was 15 so I never got to play him in the first team before I left.

Just started a save with Koln today

[deleted]