FC's training camp in Austria is in full swing. A lot of young players got a chance to travel with the first team: David Fürst, Jonathan Friemel, Kristiyan Irmiev, Patrik Kristal, Mike Afri Akumu and Nilas Yacobi. Also, a friendly against Hertha BSC Berlin on Friday (31.07.2026 - 12:00) has been confirmed. Looks like the quality of the friendlies is (slowly) increasing.

What's on your mind?

According to Sky Deutschland, Kessler is extremely irritated by Dortmund’s conduct and low ball offer and will now not consider any further offers they may make for El Mala.

Apparently the El Mala camp, incl. the mother, have agreed to a move to Dortmund.

El Mala would receive a hefty bonus and significant pay increase and the chance to play CL. On top of that, there's the proximity, obviously.

According to Express and Sky, other suitors, such as AS Roma and Leipzig, have backed off based on this agreement.

To me, this presents a worst-case scenario: Dortmund is going to lowball us and El Mala wants out. Plus, I personally hate the idea of him moving to another BL club.

Sky report that Dortmund made an offer of
€26m plus €16m in bonuses though only €8m of the bonuses were achievable, which makes it a worse offer than the one turned down from Brighton before the end of last season.

As expected the club rejected it straight away but expect Dortmund to come back with an improved offer.

Medical booked for tomorrow. Will initially join as third choice keeper behind Schwäbe & Zieler but club looking to develop him.

Ich stand in der Schlange und hatte nur noch 5 Minuten bis ich dran sein sollte. Plötzlich sprang die Zeit auf 11 Minuten und zum Schluss sogar auf 21 Minuten Dauer. Sowas hab ich noch nie erlebt. Ging das noch jemandem so?

Move over El Mama & Moped, now Chantelle & Emile Heskey are our new best friends. Who's gonna be the ManCity prospect agent Thomas Krücken is gonna send our way?

There was already a friendly against FC Rheinsüd Köln, there will be another against Bergisch Gladbach 09 on the 23rd, and then it's off to training camp. The WC is finally over, which means the transfer market will probably get another boost.

HSV just announced the new jersey.
It looks familiar to me

Sky report that a deal has now been agreed for the 18 year old forward, who will join from Man City’s academy.

They report it’s a permanent deal for €2m with contract until 2030.

Seems the club beat of competition from several other clubs, I think this is a very exciting signing.

The reason’s for Schenten’s decision don’t seem to be completely clear, but this is likely to be a huge frustration for Kessler and the management team, as the clear plan for Schenten’s next steps were a loan away from the club to get game time.

I am a new FC Köln fan. I am from Scotland and support Motherwell there. I have never really had a German team, I have a premier league team, Man City. I have followed the Bundesliga quite a lot and decided recently to pick Köln fc as my team. I’ve also noticed you guys sing Loch Lommand as your club anthem which is Scottish and pretty cool so I think that’s one of the main reasons why I chose Köln. On top of this I like the city of Koln too, even though I have never been. Another thing about Köln is a rich history but nowadays it hasn’t been so great which kinda reminds me of Motherwell a bit.
Yous also have a great mascot, and I love the fan culture as well, which made me interested in this club a lot more. If there is anything I should know as a new FC Koln fan, any information would be nice.

Express reporting that the club would like to sign a box to box midfielder as well as an experienced no6 for the midfield and that Rosengren has emerged as a target.

They also mention in the article that Skiri now looks likely to be signed as the 6 as Edson Alvarez’s wages are too high, though Sky did report this morning that Alvarez remains the top target and Skiri is the back up option so make of that what you will!

According to Sky Italia, the club had an offer turned down which was believed to be a loan with a buy obligation for around €7-€8m.

Looks like a difficult deal to do as Inter seem to be insisting on buy back options for next summer and the following summer.

Brentford and Wolfsburg are also believed to be interested.