FC Köln Vs HSV [4-1] 2025/2026

The Bundesliga varies between having two or three promoted teams each year, with their relegation play-off; this season, only two teams managed to come up.

However, these two teams are very familiar faces, and this Sunday they matched up against each other.

The home team, 1. FC Köln was promoted back to the German top flight as champions of the second division, just one year after being relegated.

They had to hire a new manager before the season started and opted to go with Lukas Kwasniok, who had previously coached SC Paderborn.

Under Kwasniok, Kölns start to the season was decent.

With 11 points out of the first eight games, Köln’s return to the Bundesliga has been a very pleasant one so far.

At the same time, Hamburger SV were promoted back to the Bundesliga after seven long years in the second division.

The club was the only German side never to be relegated from the top flight until 2018.

Then, they got stuck in the second division for quite some time.

Now, they are back in the big time after Merlin Polzin got his team promoted last season.

While the score of 4-1 in favour of Köln might sound like an easy game for them, the contest was way tighter than it seems.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine Kwasniok and Polzins tactics, their preparation of their respective teams for key moments in the match, and how Köln ultimately won the game decisively.

Köln Building Through The Centre

Köln define themselves through their work against the ball.

They try to capitalise on counterattacking opportunities rather than dominating possession most of the time.

Köln under Lukas Kwasniok tactics dont really play with possession, with just 44.9% on average; they rank in the bottom three of the Bundesliga in that regard.

Still, in the first couple of minutes, Köln tried to introduce some structure into the game through possession.

Köln were very keen on trying to establish possession deep in their own half and refused to play long balls in line one; instead, they tried to get HSV to push forward and not defend in a deep block.

Kwasniok knew that Polzin’s team was very decent at defending their box.

He also knew t