Football: King of Penalty Area
Ch. 26 - Athletic Cologne (First Day)

10 January 2008. North Rhine-Westphalen, Germany.

Cologne is the fourth largest city in terms of population in Germany and the largest city in the state of North Rhine-Westfalen. It is the most important mainland port in Germany, and is the historic, cultural, and economic capital of the Rhineland. It is the 16th largest city in the European Union. At the end of 2003, the population of Cologne was 965,954, using a standard method that only counts the population whose primary residence here.

If only the non-majority population was counted, the population was 1 million.Koln had become a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire and one of the main members of the Hanseatic League trade union. At the same time it was one of the largest European cities in the medieval and renaissance.

Cologne is a major cultural center for the Rhineland, the city houses more than 30 museums and hundreds of galleries. The city also hosts a wide variety of cultural exhibits ranging from local ancient Roman archaeological sites to contemporary charts and sculptures.

There are therefore many institutions of higher education in the city, especially the University of Cologne, one of the oldest and largest universities in Europe; the Technical University of Cologne, The largest university of applied sciences in Germany and the German University of Sports Cologne. It houses the three Max Planck science institutes and is a major research center for the aerospace industry, with the German Aerospace Center and the European Astronaut Center headquarters. It also has a significant chemical and automotive industry. Koln Bonn Airport is a regional hub, the main airport for the region is Dusseldorf Airport.These various reasons make Cologne the capital of North Rhine-Westfalen.

The home stadium of Koln Athletics is located on the north side of the city of Cologne. The stadium was one of the venues at the 2006 World Cup and is a stadium built in collaboration between the Koln City government and Klun Koln Athletics, where Koln Athletics get a loan from the Regional Bank of 75 Million Euros which they must pay off for 6 years with a guarantee of 35% ownership of the stadium.

But considering Koln Athletics itself is a fairly young team because it was only founded in 1994 after the previous football club Koln FC went bankrupt in 1991 and frozen for 3 years. It was only in 1994, though, David Beckerman who is a Koln FC fan bought a club that has been frozen for 3 years and founded a new club with the name Koln Athletics because it could not use the name of the club or organization considered bankrupt.

David Beckerman, an entrepreneur and investor, used his fortune to build the Athletics Cologne slowly from amateur teams to the present. The debt to build the stadium previously also paid 50 Million Euros with his personal money.

Koln Athletics started playing in the German Oberliga or German 4th League after buying the playing rights from FSV Aue. Then in 10 years managed to increase to 2.Bundesliga with the help of funds and good operation from David Beckerman. Koln Athletics is the best financial health club in Germany. Even Koln Athletics was able to build his stadium now without debt and only rely on sponsors and revenues collected in the previous year.

Along with the merger of two other clubs in Cologne, the club SpVgg Sulz 07 and Kolner Ballspiel-Club 1901 as a reserve team 1 and the reserve 2 Koln Athletics make the composition and rank of the team Koln Athletics more regular and increase the reserve of first team strength. At the same time also made Koln Athletics as the only football club based in the City of Cologne.

"Welcome, welcome to Koln Athletics." The manager of the Koln Athletics team is Jurgen Meyer. He was once a meritorious player for the Koln FC team and was a good friend of David Beckerman. After retiring in 1990, he began a career as a coach in the German 3rd Premier League and 7 years, before joining Koln Athletics as team manager.

The man who was with Jurgen was the head coach of Koln Athletics Thomas Sobek. He doesn't seem interested. In fact, he was completely dissatisfied with Jurgen's approach. It is true that he can find the players at this critical moment. It was commendable, but couldn't it get a player who could increase combat power instantly?

“Young players, well, it's okay, but you went to get a 17-year-old? Still a player from Indonesia who never followed playing in the world cup. Besides, didn't Indonesia just become a cheerleader at the Asian Cup last year? They could not even qualify as the hosts. What do you think about this, will you also blame him for not being able to use players?” Thomas Sobek is still not satisfied with the club's decision to ‘save money’ and bring free goods.

“However, at least this child is quite polite.” Thinking of Raynaldi's attitude, he barely smiled and welcomed Raynaldi into the team.

After a routine physical examination, Raynaldi completed the loan procedure and came to the team's training ground.

His Koln Athletics player has also heard that the team has a new hire. It seems that the person who came was also very young. When Raynaldi first appeared at the training ground, the players were shocked.

Asian faces with grain brown skin and dark hair, which they did not expect.

"What can this short skinny boy do for us? Where's he gonna play?"

"To hire such a person, I might as well go to the youth team to promote my brother!"

Sobek clapped his hand. "Shut up! Now I introduce a new friend to you, his name is Raynaldi Indrasta! From Indonesia, his full name is a bit difficult to pronounce, but you can call him Ray!"

"In the last few months, Ray will be our teammate. He is here to help us achieve our common goal of promotion to the Bundesliga. If we want to go to the Bundesliga next season, we need all of us to work together."

Claps are rarely heard in the field. After a brief introduction, training begins. Previously, the team arranged for Raynaldi to choose a jersey. He picked the same number 99 that he used in the Leverkusen SC Junior Team.

Raynaldi actually doesn't care much about his number. However, given that he intends to open a business in the future, he needs something flashy to keep many people in mind. So he picked the biggest number that could be worn in the jersey which was number 99.

Some players are still applauding the coach's face and others are hoping Raynaldi can bring change to the team. So there are still some players who sincerely welcome Raynaldi.

Of course, as a professional player, it's great to get new help in a position that the team desperately needs, but that's normal. And also hiring young players from other teams is a normal operation for these underfunded teams.

Incidentally, the striker was still lacking.

When they find out that the forward players of the team are in short supply, many players who have played forward stand up and ask to set themselves up to play forward. The attacker is definitely the most popular position on the football field. Who doesn't want to play forward?

In the case of the same level, it is certain that the forward will have more shooting opportunities than any other player, and there will be more scoring opportunities.

Who doesn't want to score! On the pitch, I can't wait for everyone to play forward, right?

As a result, the team found no guest appearances, two did not capitalise on internal potential, and three did not find a suitable striker from the market, so the team got such a player.

The players of the Koln Athletics team began to discuss it. Maybe these players are children who entered through the back lane by several companies in his country. They hope to send him to Europe to be gilded and get a chance to play. Now a Koln Athletics team lacking an attacker is the best option.

Although League 2.The Bundesliga is only the second league in Germany. However, it can be said that it is enough to be worth gold, at least compared to the unknown football desert in some Asian countries.