The last great title won by 1. FC Köln came in 1977/78. Under Hennes Weisweiler, the Domstadt club won the Double of league and cup. Every FC fan knows that Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 12-0 demolition of Borussia Dortmund still did not save them from missing out on the title under Udo Lattek. What fewer people know is that without one of Hennes Weisweiler’s greatest defeats, Cologne would never have come to celebrate over Gladbach at all.
After his success on the Lower Rhine, Weisweiler was lured to FC Barcelona on a monthly salary of 40,000 Deutschmark. He wanted to impose his style with Dutch superstars Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens. But from the start he clashed with Cruyff. “Weisweiler is not my choice of coach,” the Dutch playmaker said openly.
When Cruyff was responsible for the second goal conceded in Seville on 8 February 1976, Weisweiler substituted him. Cruyff was furious, the fans were too, and Barça president Agostin Montal settled the conflict by extending Cruyff’s contract and granting Weisweiler’s request to terminate his own deal early. The rest is history again: in summer 1976 he took over in Cologne and immediately dismantled ageing FC icon Wolfgang Overath.
With Heinz Flohe as playmaker, he won the Double in 1977/78.