"Clearing up the myth" - Kessler on the system change at 1. FC Köln

The start of the Steffen Baumgart era is imminent at 1. FC Köln. The new coach wants to turn established structures upside down.

Steffen Baumgart is to inspire new dynamism at 1. FC Köln. The former coach of SC Paderborn is expected to turn established structures upside down. "We want to be disruptive, we want to be different," demands sporting director Jörg Jakobs.

Kessler: "A new era is beginning"

Rainer Kessler, the club's former managing director, now a member of the Effzeh advisory board, sees a "system change" looming at 1. FC Köln. "The start of a new era," exclaims the 64-year-old, explaining: "We were previously a club that relied on individual quality. We often played in a very predictable 4-4-2 system." This is now to become a thing of the past.

Under Baumgart, the focus will be on the collective. "We want to be courageous, play high pressure and be difficult to calculate for the opponent," demands Jakobs. Kessler adds: "The coach wants to have a lot of ball possession and press the opponent high. This requires a lot of athleticism."Baumgart knows that he can't turn everything upside down overnight. "It will take some time to implement our philosophy," he says.