Imad Rondic’s appearance in Friday night’s 4-1 defeat away at VfB Stuttgart amounted to little more than a few minutes on the pitch. In the broader context of the striker’s 1. FC Cologne career, however, those minutes represented something far more significant.
Rondic entered in the 90th minute as René Wagner’s side attempted to chase an improbable comeback following Ramon Hendriks’ own goal. Cologne had reduced a three-goal deficit to 3-1 and Wagner responded by throwing another striker onto the pitch. The 27-year-old’s Bundesliga appearance completed an unlikely return from almost total sporting exile.
Rondic had not been selected for a single first-team matchday squad throughout the entire 2025/26 campaign. He had subsequently been removed from first-team training again this summer and appeared to possess virtually no future at the club.
Eight weeks later, Wagner rewarded him with Bundesliga minutes.
Rondic written off before Cologne’s Bundesliga return
Rondic’s marginalization stretches back more than a year. Cologne signed the Bosnian striker from Polish outfit Widzew Łódź in January 2025 while pushing for promotion back to the Bundesliga. Within months, however, the club’s assessment of his prospects had changed considerably.
In Get German Football News’s 2025/26 Cologne tactical preview, Rondic ranked among the clearest losers of preseason camp.
Cologne had strengthened significantly in preparation for their Bundesliga return and Rondic, who possessed no German top-flight experience, appeared surplus to requirements alongside Steffen Tigges, Sargis Adamyan and Florian Dietz.
A solution appeared imminent on deadline day. Sky Germany reported that Cologne were preparing to send Rondic to Karlsruher SC as part of a wider attacking clearout. Dietz and Tigges had already departed. Cologne had also attempted to find a solution for Adamyan. Rondic looked set to follow.
The move never materialized.
Rondic went an entire Bundesliga campaign without a squad nomination
Remaining in Cologne did nothing to alter Rondic’s standing. The striker spent the entire 2025/26 campaign completely outside the first-team picture. Not only did Rondic fail to make a Bundesliga appearance; he was never selected for a single first-team matchday squad over the course of the season.
An entire 34-match Bundesliga campaign therefore passed without the January 2025 signing even earning a place on the bench. Little changed when Cologne reconvened for the new season.
By the time Get German Football News assessed Wagner’s squad in the 2026/27 Cologne tactical preview, Rondic remained one of the most obvious players without a sporting future at the club. He was not among the 24 professionals presented to supporters at Cologne’s season-opening festivities.
The striker hierarchy offered little encouragement either. Ragnar Ache occupied the leading role, while Thijs Dallinga provided another proven senior centre-forward option. Younger attackers also offered Wagner substantially greater developmental upside.
Rondic had effectively become a forgotten member of the payroll.
Eight weeks of work change Wagner’s mind
What followed did not suddenly restore Rondic to a prominent sporting role. It did, however, change Wagner’s assessment of whether the striker deserved to be part of his squad. According to the Cologne trainer, Rondic responded to his exclusion by working relentlessly for approximately eight weeks.
Rather than allowing the demotion to end his prospects entirely, the striker continued attempting to earn his way back into consideration. Friday provided the first tangible reward. Cologne entered the final ten minutes at Stuttgart trailing 3-0 before Mikey Moore’s low cross ultimately produced a Hendriks own goal.
At 3-1, Wagner decided there remained at least a theoretical possibility of something extraordinary happening. Rondic was called from the bench. The appearance represented his Bundesliga debut. There was even a cruelly ironic ending.
Shortly after Rondic entered, he headed a Stuttgart throw-in away from the penalty area. The clearance dropped directly toward Josha Vagnoman, who produced a spectacular first-time volley into the top corner to complete the 4-1 scoreline.
That moment did little to diminish what Rondic’s selection itself represented. Wagner made clear afterward that the decision was not primarily about suddenly elevating the striker within Cologne’s attacking hierarchy.
Nor did the coach promise that more appearances would necessarily follow. The player’s selection did have something to do with the fact that last week’s goalscorer’s Said El Mala and Thijs Dallinga were unavailable due to illness.
The substitution nevertheless served as a reward for persistence—and a message to everyone else in the squad.
Wagner: “Whoever busts their ass for us will get to play football”
“When we scored the 3-1, we figured we’d go for the 3-2,” Wagner said of Rondic’s substitution. “Perhaps something crazy might happen. Stranger things have happened in football. That’s why we decided on him and I believe his [recent] history justified it. As I already mentioned this week, he was a player who was removed from our training. That was a bitter setback for him. That’s not easy for any player.
“And for the last eight weeks, he’s busted his ass,” Wagner continued. “Players who leave it all on the pitch, who never give up, who try every day to dig deep and bring out their best deserve to be in our Bundesliga squad. And whether or not that will prove sufficient for additional appearances, I don’t know. But for today it was important for me to send a signal to the team that whoever busts their ass for us will get to play football [for us].”
