FC Koln are set to face Swansea City at Thermenstadion Bad Waltersdorf in Austria in a pre-season clash on Wednesday.
The home side finished second last in their disastrous 2023-24 season and were relegated to Germany's second division after ending the campaign in 17th place, while the away team finished mid-table in 14th place in the Championship.
Match preview
The German side will be back in 2. Bundesliga next season for the first time since 2018-19.
Koln ended the 2023-24 campaign with just 27 points from 34 games, and their points per game return of 0.79 was their lowest since they recorded 0.65 points per game in 2017-18.
Last term, the club only scored 28 league goals and conceded 60 times, and this made them the division's worst offensive and joint fifth-worst defensive team.
Koln's morale heading into next season will not have been helped by the fact that they are currently unable to register the players signed in the transfer window due to a ban that was initially imposed in March 2023.
The Billy Goats' ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in December 2023 after the club were found to have breached rules by encouraging Slovenian youngster Jaka Cuber Potocnik to break his contract with Olimpija Ljubljana and join them in January 2022.
Manager Gerhard Struber was appointed boss on June 12, and he took over from Timo Schultz, who was only appointed in January after Steffen Baumgart was dismissed in December.
Struber is yet to oversee a competitive game in charge, but he will at least be pleased that his side are unbeaten in their five pre-season friendlies, including an 18-0 victory against VfL Rheingold Koln-Poll.
Meanwhile, opponents Swansea are yet to play a pre-season friendly but will play three before their first Championship game on August 10 against Middlesbrough.
Last term, The Swans accumulated 57 points and finished 16 points behind sixth-placed Norwich City, who claimed the league's final promotion playoff spot.
The failure to reach the playoffs and earn promotion back to the Premier League means that Swansea will spend a seventh consecutive campaign in England's second division.
Fans will be particularly concerned by the fact that their points tally of 57 was their lowest figure since their first season back in the Championship in 2018-19.
In fact, this points total was worryingly only seven more than 22nd-placed Birmingham City achieved, who finished 2023-24 in the division's final relegation spot.
However, the January appointment of Luke Williams as manager in place of Michael Duff did bring Swansea some positive results in the second half of the season, including seven wins from their last 16 matches.
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Team News
FC Koln have been unable to add any players to their squad, and manager Struber will have to pick from a similar roster to last season's.
However, centre-back Jeff Chabot as well as forwards Davie Selke and Justin Diehl have left the club.
Luca Kilian will be absent due to a cruciate ligament injury and is not expected back until December at the earliest.
Opponents Swansea have been reinforced by the additions of midfielder Goncalo Franco and winger Ji-sung Eom, and the latter will need to step up in the absence of last season's second top scorer Jerry Yates, who has left on loan to Derby.
Elsewhere, centre-back Nathan Wood, left-back Nathanael Ogbeta, midfielder Liam Walsh and winger Przemyslaw Placheta have also left the club.
FC Koln possible starting lineup:
Schwabe; Heintz, Hubers, Smajic; Christensen, Huseinbasic, Martel, Schmid; Dietz, Tigges, Adamyan
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Fisher; Key, Cabango, Darling, Tymon; Franco, Grimes; Ronald, Paterson, Eom; Cullen
We say: FC Koln 3-1 Swansea City
Considering that this will be Koln's sixth pre-season friendly, they will no doubt come into Wednesday's clash as favourites due to a greater level of preparedness.
However, Swansea manager Williams will be more concerned about his players getting minutes ahead of the upcoming Championship season.
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