Cologne Fans in Shock over “Are You Crazy?” Slogan in FC Photo

This action was more than unfortunate!

One day before 1. FC Köln’s Rheinderby against Gladbach (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.), an Instagram post by keeper Marvin Schwäbe (27) caused a stir among his own fans.

Schwäbe briefly posted a photo of teammate Jonas Hector (32) in his Instagram story on Saturday, showing the FC captain holding a jersey with the 2025 flocking and a few signatures in his hands.

Has Hector extended his contract until 2025? So far, the defender hasn’t decided whether to continue playing after this season or retire.

The photo caused a lot of cheering for many FC fans on social networks – but only for a short time. Because the action was an April Fool’s joke. So that means the wait for a Hector decision about his future continues.

However, the joke was not well received by the fans, some of the fans were even really angry and let their frustration run wild.

“Don’t play with my feelings”, “You don’t joke with that” or “Are you crazy?” Were some fan reactions to the photo on social networks.

Another fan writes: “They’re really funny, almost as funny as the last results. No one has anything against April Fools’ jokes, but with regard to the transfer ban, which is currently in place, one should perhaps also be able to think that SUCH jokes might then be rather inappropriate.

A short time later, Schwäbe deleted the post with the photo from his Instagram story. And internally, the April Fool’s joke caused a stir at FC.

It was only on Wednesday that Fifa imposed a tough verdict on the people of Cologne. The world association bans FC from bringing in new players and making transfers for a year.

The world association punishes Cologne because the club is said to have caused its Slovenian youth player Jaka Cuber Potocnik (17) to break the contract with his former club Olimpija Ljubiljana in the course of his transfer to FC in 2022.

So much fuss at FC before the all-important derby against Gladbach…