🇩🇪 I FOUND AN ABANDONED GERMAN FOOTBALL STADIUM!

In this video I visited the city of Koln to see their various football teams and stadiums.
I visited the abandoned old home of VFL Koln. I also went to Viktoria Koln, SC Fortuna Koln and FC Koln (kind of).
My Social Media:
INSTAGRAM: / footy.adventures
TWITTER: / the_sam_north
#football #germany #abandoned

[@markusbuchenau2611]

The abandoned stadium in the north of Cologne was formerly the home of VfL Köln 99, Cologne's oldest football club. The club is now called 1. FSV Köln and plays in the amateur league (Kreisklasse). Viktoria Köln, the club from the right bank of the Rhine, has a rather complicated history. It was formed from several clubs that merged over decades. Actually the name Viktoria Köln was not used until the 1950s. Over many decades the order of the Cologne clubs used to be: 1. FC Köln (Bundesliga) followed by Fortuna (second league) and behind them Viktoria. But times have changed: In the meantime Viktoria has overtaken Fortuna and plays in the third league, while Fortuna went down to the fourth league.

[@markusbuchenau2611]

Fun fact about the abandoned stadium: In 2003, the German director Sönke Wortmann made a film about the 1954 World Cup, which the German national team unexpectedly won against Hungary ("Das Wunder von Bern"). At that time, the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern no longer existed. So he had to find another location with the flair of older football times. The grandstand seen in the film was that of the old VfL stadium.

[@bp9759]

Germany is my favourite country for groundhopping by a mile, spent a long weekend in Hamburg in April and it was just brilliant, at all different tiers!

[@GenialHarryGrout]

This brings back some great memories. I lived in Cologne back in the late 1990's and a very short walk from the Dom is some great pubs where I would spend many a Sunday reading the English papers and watching the EPL

[@Hugh.G.Rectionx]

yet again another brilliant video.

[@depekthegreat359]

Wow!!!This is an extremely so fantastic abandoned stadium in Germany and I hope to see to more of the respective abandoned stadiums,mainly in Europe,good friend Sam!!!🏋‍♂️

[@geoffpoole483]

Hi Sam, Any chance you could cover the ownership model of German clubs? I doubt it'll ever catch on in the UK but it's interesting. Keep those abandoned stadiums coming!

[@salbenrosli707]

You have to get an old fan to speak to you. When I was in Munich, there was an 80 year old fan who spoke fondly to me about fan movements in Germany and he owns a airbnb. I forgot what his name was, but he was involved in 1860 Munchen setup in his younger days

[@SapientiaHaereticae]

Well, that's quite simple: A group of at least seven people can found a club, decisions are made democratically by the members and that's basically it. There's is no company or anything like that which "owns" the club (except for RB Leipzig, these cheaters 😡) ..the clubs are always owned by their members..

[@lanes1rcy]

hey sam! the fc koln training stadium that you sat in is where the us national team is training this week for the upcoming friendlies!

[@ralphcastricum1]

If you ever come to the Netherlands again. Go to the Wageningse berg. Most Beautiful abandoned stadium of the the Netherlands.

[@FootyAdventures]

Great tip thank you!! 🙌🏼

[@frisianprideworldwide]

@@FootyAdventures in delft you got the stadion brasserkade now used by amatures but an absolte beauty and i could also recomment the sc Heerenveen-psv Eindhoven game

[@peterweiss123]

Love your vlogs..enjoy discovering many football stadiums and their cities....not only in Germany, even though there are soooo many stadiums to be found!

[@NS_Miata]

If you come back to the Netherlands their are also a few abandoned stadiums: Wageningse Berg stadium (Wageningen) and Sportpark Berg en Bos (Apeldoorn)

[@RaisenGames]

I had my very first training session as a child on the pitch you were standing on in this video. At that time, the VFL still existed and I had a test training there. At that time, the club still used the area as an ash field, but unfortunately I can't remember more than this one training session. After that, I went to train across the street at what was then FSV Köln Nord and spent many years of my youth soccer time there. The merging between FSV Köln Nord and VFL happened a little bit after I left the club. Really cool to see that there are videos like yours that really bring me back to those days, thanks for that! Also I just used to live like a 15min walk from that pitch, so this video feels like home 😄

[@Fluppess]

It’s so Crazy That i‘m an Hearts Fan and found You’re Channel on KZbin because of the Hearts content… AND THIS STADIUM is about 20 mins away from where i live in Germany :)

[@jamiecharlton9961]

Also a jambo, and got a Fortuna Köln kit in a mystery kit ... not as big a coincidence as you... but, pretty cool all the same haha

[@alanwhite6730]

Loved the video, it was very interesting to watch.

[@mergelboy2927]

Hi Sam, love your video's. I follow them all. Especially those about the abandoned stadiums i like a lot. If you decide to come to Belgium, go and check out the "Drie Lindenstadium" in Watermaal-Bosvoorde in the Brussels area. It's a great stadium with a great history. The great Torino-team played there in 1948, just 4 months before they were killed in the Superga disaster. Also the "Ganzenvijver (Goose Pond)" in the nearby Ukkel has a great history. It has the oldest still existing concrete stand of the European mainland, dating from 1901. And on 1 May 1904 the ever first international game, played between Belgium and France, was played there and which led to the establishment of the FIFA-organisation.

[@opflug553]

Wish I'd seen this earlier. I've lived in Cologne since January and I've watched this channel and loved this guys positive energy and enthusiasm. It's been much hotter than 27 this summer and you can tell how dry it has been. Funny to see you walk around the places I see all the time. It's a long walk to the nearest station from Franz Kremer, I sympathize. Last time I was there FC hoods ruined the game for the B squad by stealing a banner from Oberhausen.

[@henning8737]

I've been to this match too, but the B team got the 3 points anyways the atmosphere was amazing.

[@opflug553]

@@henning8737 They did award them the points? I hadn't noticed what happened since that night, assumed they'd get docked since it seems they started the invasion.

[@henning8737]

@@opflug553 Yeah Cologne had to pay a €4000 penalty to get the 3 points.

[@Dskybamc]

You need to see a match in Rheinenergiestadion

[@neilwiltshire1467]

Interesting video, I feel your pain groundspotting in serious heat ! I've done several missions on hot summer days trekking around in most un-football like weather ... Impressed by your German though, you almost sound more comfortable with that language then trying to pronounce some English words !! lol

[@RobJaskula]

Dritte ('third') Liga 👍. Great stuff as always!

[@salbenrosli707]

If Im not wrong, I visited here before thinking it was the home of Viktoria Koln. Eventually found Viktoria's home ground. I have good memories of Koln, very nice people around here and the hotel that I stayed was a few bus stops away from RhineEnergieStadion, home of Effzeh.

[@kaizer1903]

I find these videos really interesting great stuff.

[@pierreschlagenhaft7952]

You have to come to Duisburg too . :) we have the biggest stafium in the third league. Nearby is another stadium for athletics and an icehockey Arena . You can also see see the training grounds if you want there is also an old stadium of the Club which now is used for the youth Clubs

[@SapientiaHaereticae]

The ending was hilarious to me 😂 ..I was like "wait, I know these woods.. you're at the wrong place!" ..well, you were 😂

[@Choppy698]

Hiya Sam, I like these abandoned grounds,I wonder how many there is in Scotland, When you go to Aberdeen you should go to there former ground it its still there, cant wait for the next abandoned ground, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England

[@zavy44]

Have you thought of finding the stadium Stade Yves-du-Manoir where Escape to Victory was filmed, e.g Pele Bobby Moore Ardilles and that well known famous goalkeeper Sylvester Stallone played.

[@wickedmanbrrrp]

as a Jamaican we've had Jamaican internnationals play for a few of these clubs in Koln Micheal Seaton played a few seasons ago for victoria Koln and Zander Bicknell Jamaican u20 player is currently playing for Fortuna in the youth ranks

[@oliverraven]

I remember looking up German footie results on Eurosport teletext 20+ years ago, before I got the internet at home, and back then FC Köln and Fortuna had a long-running derby in the second tier. I hadn't heard of Viktoria at the time, but they can occasionally be seen in action on the DFB (German FA) KZbin channel, free of charge and not geoblocked in the UK. That division does have some B teams in it though as you mentioned. Ein kleiner Tipp, wenn ich es so darf: when you see a number followed by a dot, that means it's ordinal rather than cardinal, so you should be saying "*erste* FC Köln", "*zweite* Bundesliga" and "*dritte* Liga" instead of "eins FC", "Zwei-Bundesliga" and "Drei-Liga" respectively. Don't worry, you're not the only English football fan ever to get this wrong. :) I've been to the Rhein-Energie-Stadion and surrounds on a non-matchday some years ago. That was during the German winter break, so it definitely wasn't as hot as it was for you here! I also ended up finding the training ground of Dynamo Dresden once before... luckily, their stadium and club shop was located directly opposite!

[@vojtechkostovski951]

First of all, I would like to thank you 👏😎 for the videos you shoot and sometimes it is not easy when you go to several stadiums across the city and to the filming and editing 🥵. A lot of work but worth it because your videos are great 👌. You were right when you said that clubs were founded in Britain around 1860-1890, but the founding year of 1899, like Cologne, is not such a rarity in Central and Western Europe. Only here in the Czech Republic, but also in Germany, there are clubs that were founded before 1900. For example: 1872 Le Havre AC, 1888 - Germania Berlin, 1892 - Slavia Prague, 1893 - Sparta Prague. And as a football fanatic in the Czech Republic, I know that several clubs were founded before 1900. However, they were not as lucky as Sparta and Slavia (they somehow survived the First World War) and disappeared during the First World War. Cologne is a beautiful city that I have one wonderful memory of as a citizen of the Czech Republic. In 2010, the Czech Republic won the World Ice Hockey Championship there, defeating Russia in the final.

[@guizo92]

Man you should come to Marseille, the atmosphère is crazy !!

[@BALHAM69]

Are you going to the lfc women’s Anfield match on Sunday and the afc Liverpool match tomorrow Sam? :)

[@WhiteHartDane]

Viktoria Köln only turned full-time a few years ago I think. 2022-23 is their fourth season in 3. Liga, and I don't think they've been placed as high before in the football pyramid.

[@ryanoconnor5612]

Leaving us on a cliff hanger like that!

[@stephenord3403]

Ps, I love this country, the people,culture, the lot. Love from me in England 🇬🇧 ❤

[@Pandderpanda1920]

Köln has a Bundesliga team

[@scottthepostmanparker3029]

Fortuna Köln play in the fourth tier of German football

[@Micfri300]

Please check out livorno and treviso calcio 🙏

[@gerardhackett4845]

Fortuna Cologne had Republic of Ireland International Noel Campbell in the 70s

[@willbesoon6601]

Great video, Sam. Can you do one on Borussia Monchengladbach? Cheers!

[@Hammermantv]

try shakthar dombass stadium or braga stadium

[@JamesBond-si7xs]

He’s been to Braga

[@scottishsoldiernew5326]

hi mate are you going to the Scotland v Ukraine tomorrow night

[@michael_grayyy1039]

You should visit cove rangers

[@FootyAdventures]

I know. I really want to see them play this season!

[@Hartley_Hare]

I used to write for FourFourTwo, and if you want any of my old cuttings, I'll happily send them over.

[@ronneyscott5112]

Looks like parkheid if it didn't have cloth and 3 back and front doors 😉

[@RiceyBhoy89]

Bro you need to get a bike or e scooter 😂😂 Great content and you legs will thank you later 💪🏻

[@f6sun]

1. FC Köln was founded in 1948 and even its predecessor clubs were founded in 1901 and 1907. So Christian is not quite right ;)

[@JRtwins_]

We do videos like this if any of you guys want to check it out

[@brianharley6452]

German 3rd tier was better than most spl grounds lol

[@stephenord3403]

Alliance is awesome

[@bobbysutherland4700]

You actually look German Sam they probably thought u were a native 😂

[@xsaucecherryx]

your videos are getting worse and worse. full of clickbait and no real info. grifting.

[@georgecoffin2044]

Boooo, I look forward to the gladbach video. 😉

[@davidbarr9343]

Sorry Sam, very poor taste posting this vid when our Queen's funeral is taking place! I have always been a supporter of your channel, but you have sunk to a low that I can't put up with. Goodbye!😱

[@mrbarney4176]

What has the Queen done for you?...would she care if you died

[@jacklacoste2613]

Bore off, not everyone wants to watch a funeral, royalist or anti monarchist.

[@randr2141]

I agree, whatever anyones feelings, this could of been posted tomorrow. P.S. the monarchy has done plenty for our country.

[@dmac4048]

And yet you all In your mourning you took the time to watch the video through your tears. Honestly get a grip.

[@Grupuro]

Who forced you to watch it immediately? Maybe Just watch the funeral and come here later?