Hamburger SV started their 2. Bundesliga campaign on a high note with a 2-1 away win over Rhine giants 1. FC Köln at their RheinEnergieStadion
The Billy Goats are one of the teams expected to challenge for the 2. Bundesliga title or achieve promotion back to the Bundesliga for the 2025/26 football season in Germany, thanks to their statute in German football. Hamburger are also expected to challenge and are no strangers to the top flight. However, they have spent quite some time in the second division that their possible promotion will come as a “pleasant surprise” to followers of the football in Germany’s second division.
And so, when both teams met on the opening matchday to play the curtain raiser match for the 2024/25 2. Bundesliga season, nobody could place a finger on who would win. Most believed that the Billy Goats would triumph, however, because of their home advantage.
Die Rothosen’s Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer had other plans.
Steffen Baumgart—who has now been sacked and replaced with Merlin Polzin in the interim—lined up his team in a 3-2-4-1 formation to begin with. This defensive formation allowed for his starting wingers to drop into defence when their hosts were on the ball. This was the case for the first few minutes.
Hamburger SV even had to do some defending as Denis Huseinbašić and Dejan Ljubicic both had chances to put the hosts ahead. However, the visitors would go ahead in the sixth minute when Ghana national football team winger Königsdörffer reacted to a spilled ball by the Köln goalkeeper Jonas Urbig to poke home his first of the afternoon.
Köln did not take this lying down. They continued to go at the Hamburger defence, who, in response, remained strong and ready to launch a counterattack. This tactic led to chances for Jean-Luc Dompé and Königsdörffer, who were unable to finish. They would eventually get their second goal via the same means which would immediately quiet the rambunctious RheinEnergieStadion crowd.
Hamburger players worked it up the left wing before Adam Karabec delivered a perfect cross to Königsdörffer, who first hit the post with a header before slotting home the rebound. It was a special moment for the young Ghana international, who almost failed to become a professional thanks to two knee injuries in his developmental days.
Hamburger SV gained more confidence but Köln also did their best not to disappoint the home crowd as both teams traded blows. The visitors seemed content to cling to their two-goal advantage for most of the second half but the constant back and forth between them resulted in Köln halving the deficit.
It was substitute Linton Maina whose powerful header in the 78th minute halved the deficit, leading to the home fans’ increasing their noise. However, Hamburg remained sturdy until the final whistle.
Polzin, now in charge of the Red Shorts as the Billy Goats seek to feast on them in the reverse fixture, will have analysed this game to ensure that Gerhard Struber does not get a comeback win to even the head-to-head between both teams this season.
Match tickets
Volksparkstadion, Hamburger SV’s home stadium, is the venue for this reverse fixture. 1. FC Köln are going there with an advantage as a 2. Bundesliga title contender while the hosts are nervously preparing to tackle the rest of the season which will determine their 2024/25 playoffs participation fate.
The tickets are expected to be sold out, so fans need to head on over to either clubs’ websites to purchase their Hamburger SV vs 1. FC Köln tickets. Both clubs will also sell the tickets via affiliates, other online and offline partner platforms, as well as their other official channels. Early indication is key to securing one of the 57,000 seats at the Volksparkstadion, the eighth-largest stadium in Germany.
Ticket sales and allocation will be partial to registered fans of either club. This means that non-registered fans, non-local fans of either club and tourists visiting Hamburg and looking to experience a live football match will find it difficult to get the seats they want.
Ticket resale websites solve this issue. Fans in the category described above can visit these platforms and exchange cash for tickets from fans who have either Hamburger SV tickets or 1. FC Köln tickets to part ways with.
The matchday 18 fixture will be played on 18 January 2025 at 8:30 PM, UK time.
Team news
The hosts will be without Robert Glatzel for the matchday 18 clash against Köln thanks to the man’s ruptured tendon. He is scheduled for a February 2025 return but he could take longer to get back to regular football action. Ludovit Reis, an important part of die Rothosen’s midfield, is only just returning from his muscle injury but with the promotion playoffs on the line, their manager is likely to give him a start in the match in order to gain control before likely substituting him to manage his recovery. Centre-back Valon Zumberi could also be absent from the squad list, although his recovery from a patellar tendon dislocation is going on well.
Die Geißböcke on the other hand, have three players to worry about as they prepare to tackle die Rothosen at the Volksparkstadion. The players are Jacob Christensen (cruciate ligament tear), Luca Kilian (cruciate ligament injury) and Julian Pauli (concussion). Christensen and Liam’s injuries are delicate enough, but Pauli’s is more life-threatening. However, Pauli’s has a shorter recovery time frame which means that he can be ready for the trip to Hamburg. Luca Waldschmidt and Tim Lemperle are on the road to recovery from their back and muscle injuries respectively, are going to be on the squad list, and most likely start, even if they will not play the full 90 minutes match.
Line-ups
Here is what we expect both teams’ starting XIs to look like for this match.
Hamburger SV: Raab; Muheim, Schonlau, Elfadli; Meffert; Poręba, Reis, Baldé, Mikelbrencis; Königsdörffer, Selke.
- FC Köln: Schwäbe; Pauli, Hüber, Heintz; Ljubicic, Martel, Huseinbašić, Paqarada; Waldschmidt, Maina; Lemperle.
Prediction
Seeing as how both teams have had different 2. Bundesliga campaigns after their meeting on matchday 1, it makes more sense to give 1. FC Köln the win on matchday 18. However, Hamburger SV have a jump on them in the head-to-head which covers the last six seasons. For this reason, we still expect this to be an open match with a narrow margin of victory. Our prediction, however, is that the home side will win this match.
Hamburger SV 2 – 1 1. FC Köln.