Kaiserslautern’s Ragnar Ache and Cologne’s Eric Martel fight for a header in Cologne’s 4-0 win Sunday over the Red Devils. (Facebook/1. FC Kaiserslautern)
It will be another season in Bundesliga 2, after 1. FC Kaiserslautern lost its final game of the season Sunday, 4-0 to Cologne, the second division champion.
In the end, even a win would not have helped the Red Devils, as Elversberg beat Schalke 2-1 to cement third place and the relegation playoffs against Heidenheim, the Bundesliga’s 16th-place team.
Hamburg finished second to join Cologne in the first division next year.
The game started promising for FCK, with Ragnar Ache having two scoring possibilities in the seventh minute. Cologne keeper Marwin Schwäbe stopped the first, and Ache headed the second to the left of the goal.
Cologne’s Luca Waldschmidt had two good scoring chances, both stopped by Julian Krahl, before the host team got on the board in the 14th minute when Eric Martel got a header past Krahl for the 1-0.
Waldschmidt took a pass from Damion Downs in the 29th minute and converted for 2-0, opening Cologne’s door to the Bundesliga.
In the second half, Filip Koloc fouled Waldschmidt in the box, giving Cologne the penalty. Waldschmidt took the shot himself, but Krahl made the stop for the Red Devils.
It was Krahl who kept his team in the game, but Cologne managed to score twice more.
Florian Kainz upped the score to 3-0 in the 76th minute, before Mark Uth, playing his final game, put the icing on Cologne’s cake, scoring the 4-0 in the 87th minute.
The loss, and Magdeburg’s win over Düsseldorf dropped Kaiserslautern to seventh place with 53 points. All-in-all a good season for the Red Devils following last year’s 13th-place finish.
Ache scored 18 goals in the season, third best in Bundesliga 2. A big question is will he still be a Red Devil when the 2025/26 season begins Aug. 1.
May 18, 2025 21:32
