VfL Wolfsburg vs. 1. FC Köln preview: Wölfe celebrate eightieth anniversary match | OneFootball

VFL WOLFSBURG

VfL Wolfsburg (1-1-0, 6th) return from the international break with four points from six in their new Bundesliga campaign.

Paul Simonis' side won their opening match away at 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 by a 3-1 result and were on the verge of a 1-0 victory against 1. FSV Mainz 05 before conceding a late penalty that was converted by Nadiem Amiri. However, the most recent friendly against SC Paderborn 07, with a few players absent due to international duty, ended in a late 1-2 defeat at VfL-Center.

This match against 1. FC Köln is an important one for the club because two undefeated sides are going head-to-head, and every win for Wolfsburg is one step closer to a surprise European place if they can maintain consistency - but Saturday afternoon will also be special in another way.

Wolfsburg will celebrate their eightieth anniversary on Friday - the modern-day version of the club was founded as VSK Wolfsburg on 12 September 1945. To celebrate this moment, the club will wear a retro-style green kit with the old Wolfsburg logo used during the 1990s - the famous coat of arms that symbolise the working class of the city.

Die Wölfe are hoping to bring their supporters a victory on such a special day - and past head-to-head record shows that it can be possible. Wolfsburg are 3-1-1 in their last five against Köln, undefeated in the last three dating back to February 2023 (2-0, 2-1, 1-1).

However, this will be the first time that Paul Simonis and Lukas Kwasniok will be involved - Niko Kovač, current Borussia Dortmund head coach, led Wolfsburg in the last meeting, while Timo Schultz, who is now the head coach of 3. Liga side VfL Osnabrück, managed Köln.

Three Wolfsburg players from that starting eleven - these being Václav Černý, Maxence Lacroix, and Aster Vranckx - have left, and the squad composition was quite different from that of today, with Jonas Wind as the main forward instead of mid-2024 loan signing Mohamed Amoura.

Team News

The injury list is down to only three players for VfL Wolfsburg, two of which are set to return to the main squad before the end of the month. These are Brazilian left-back Rogério (muscle) and American right midfielder Kevin Paredes (ankle); Slovak centre-back Denis Vavro (groin) remains absent until the middle of December.

With the recent signing of Christian Eriksen, the sixth Danish player on the squad and the second Danish signing by Wolfsburg to be among the national team's top ten goalscorers (Nicklas Bendtner the other), Paul Simonis has more to work with. However, Eriksen will not start in this week's matchup.

Eriksen is an option at CAM, but will have to compete with Croatian international Lovro Majer for the starting spot. Simonis can even shift Majer to another position - Majer can even play at LW (in a three-forward formation) or LAM, meaning that he could compete with Austrian international Patrick Wimmer for that position in Simonis' current 4-2-3-1.

Predicted XI: Grabara - Fischer, Jenz, Koulierakis, Zehnter - Arnold, Vini Souza, Majer - Skov Olsen, Amoura, Wimmer.

1. FC KÖLN

The 2025/26 season has been nothing short of a great start for 1. FC Köln (2-0-0, 3rd), as the newly-promoted side from a chaotic 2. Bundesliga season are one of just three teams to have picked up six points from six in the German top-tier. The other two that they join the company of are Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Bayern München - both of which are playing UEFA Champions League football this year.

What makes their performance even more impressive is that they were against teams that are playing European football this season: a 1-0 victory at 1. FSV Mainz 05, who are in the UEFA Conference League, and a 4-1 result against SC Freiburg, who will begin their UEFA Europa League campaign in two weeks. Additionally, the club won a friendly match over the international window, 9-1 against Schwarz-Weiß Essen of the Oberliga.

One of the players making this record possible is Jakub Kamiński, who has been in the news in recent weeks for a variety of different reasons. On top of the fact that he scored in the victory against SC Freiburg, and also for the Poland national team in a 3-1 victory against Finland on Sunday, he said that he wants to complete a permanent move to the Nordrhein-Westfalen club if possible. Kamiński is currently on loan from Wolfsburg.

Kamiński said to Bild on Monday that “I hope that my season goes well, and that Köln decide to purchase my contract permanently afterwards”. He also compared the atmospheres in both venues as part of his logic: “It is very different from Wolfsburg. The atmosphere, the people - everyone there is crazy, and I love it. Köln is a big club with great tradition”.

Team News

The only position that Köln have a shortage of at the moment are the centre-backs, with three out of six currently absent; however, this issue will be resolved quite soon.

Dominique Heintz and Timo Hübers are both projected to return to the main team in the next few days. Luca Kilian (cruciate ligament) will be absent for much longer, as his projected return is currently set for the end of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season.

Predicted XI: Schwäbe - Sebulonsen, van den Berg, Hübers, Lund - Martel, Johanneson, Huseinbasic - Thielmann, Kaminski, Bülter.