RheinEnergieStadion

RheinEnergieStadion – tickets for the Müngersdorf ground

Around 50,000 seats, four free-standing floodlight pylons at the corners, no running track. The present building dates from 2004, but football has been played on this site in western Cologne since 1923. That is why many people still say Müngersdorfer Stadion — search for that and you mean the same ground.

The Südkurve, and why it has a reputation

1. FC Köln have been relegated more often than most clubs of their size, and that is precisely where the Südkurve earns its name: it sings when there is nothing to celebrate. If you want the noise, sit there. If you want to watch the football, take the side stands — the view is good everywhere, because nothing sits between the grass and the seats.

Hennes the billy goat

The mascot is a live goat, not somebody in a costume. The first Hennes arrived in 1950 as a gift from the circus director Carola Williams and was named after the club's coach at the time, Hennes Weisweiler — not after a player. Every successor since has carried the same name with a running number, and the goat stands at the touchline for every home match.

The walk through the green belt

The stadium sits in the Äußerer Grüngürtel, a broad ring of parkland around the city. The approach runs across meadows and tree-lined avenues rather than car park asphalt — one of the pleasantest walks to any ground in Germany, and in good weather part of the day.

An honest word on the surroundings: there is nothing at the ground

Worth knowing in advance, because it changes the plan. There is no pub and no brewery tap around the stadium — the first genuine hospitality is a good kilometre and a half away. The Geißbockheim, the club's own training complex, is no alternative for the half hour before kick-off either: it lies at the far end of the green belt, close to four kilometres away, a good forty minutes on foot.

Two addresses that actually work:

• Wirtshaus Em Ringströßje, Alter Militärring 13 — the closest tavern to the ground and the obvious matchday stop. If you want a table, go early.
• Krein's Sportklause, Vitalisstraße 303 — the pub option, a little further out and thoroughly unpretentious.

If you want your Kölsch in the proper setting, do it in the old town rather than in Müngersdorf. Between the cathedral and the Rhine the great brewery taps stand within a few hundred metres of one another — out before the match, back afterwards; the tram runs both ways.

Getting there

Tram line 1 runs directly to the RheinEnergieStadion stop, around 15 minutes from Neumarkt in the city centre. On matchdays the tram is included in the ticket, and it beats driving comfortably — parking at the ground is limited and leaving takes a while.

Cologne/Bonn airport is around 20 kilometres away; from the Hauptbahnhof the ground is about 25 minutes with one change.