Legendary German footballing head coach Friedhelm Funkel is back in action. The 71-year-old will take on another short term assignment at FC Köln after the 2. Bundesliga side sacked head coach Gerhard Struber over the weekend. Funkel takes charge of the cathedral city side for the third time his career. He last helped Effzeh avoid relegation from the top flight at the end of the 2020/21 Bundesliga campaign.
Funkel’s storied coaching career saw him work the sidelines at ten separate German clubs. He garnered quite the reputation for helping bring out the best in lower tier sides with limited quality. After his long tenure at Fortuna Düsseldorf came to an end (the then top division club sacked him in January 2020 in a failed bid to escape the drop), he worked in semi-retirement as a “Feuerwehrmann” (“emergency short-term coach).
Funkel succeeded in his two “Feuerwehrmann” assignments. Köln remained in the Bundesliga thanks to three wins in six league fixtures during Funkel’s tenure. Despite dropping the first leg of the promotion relegation playoff to Holstein Kiel 0-1 at home, die Geißböcke stormed back to win 1-5 away and retain the class on aggregate.
Funkel then helped FC Kaiserslautern avoid relegation from the 2. Bundesliga to the 3. Liga last year. Funkel also led the FCK to the DFB Pokal final, at which die Roten Teufel narrowly lost against Bayer Leverkusen. After the Pokal final, journalists were very curious to know about the respected elder statesman’s future plans.
Funkel did not rule out a return to coaching, even though he famously admitted last time he was in charge of Köln that his body was giving out and he had to take naps in-between training sessions. At his media presentation on Monday, the Neuss-native spoke on the decision to come back. Interesting enough, Köln’s promotion hopes may come down to a crucial fixture against Lautern on the final matchday.
“I wasn’t anticipating it,” Funkel said of the call he received from Köln, “but, in football, things that one never thought possible do occur. Even I didn’t think it possible until yesterday. It’s a really good feeling.”
Funkel revealed that he had a two-hour-long conversation with newly promoted Köln sporting director Thomas Kessler on Sunday. The night Funkel initially requested to think matters over ultimately proved unnecessary.
“Man, one had to say ‘yes’,” Funkel said with a sly smile. “It could have been the case that he had someone else lined up.”
GGFN | Peter Weis
