Schalke managed to wipe out the three goal deficit in just 41 minutes with goals from Fischer, Rüssmann and Scheer, but Köln quickly pulled one back through Löhr before the half time whistle came. Löhr then converted a penalty for 3-2 (the first of 21 penalties eventually taken on the night!) and it looked as if Schalke’s dream was dead and buried. The last Schalke hope was almost certainly destroyed when Klaus Beverungen missed a penalty with ten minutes to go, but they were to be awarded two more penalties. Köln defender Jupp Kapellmann gave them both away and Helmut Kremers converted them, the second in the fifth minute of added time, to send the game to extra time at 5-2.
Both teams failed to find a winning goal in extra time, despite another penalty (the fifth at this point) being given to Köln. Werner Biskup was however unable to beat Schalke keeper Norbert Nigbur. As a result, the game went to a penalty shootout with 16 players taking a spot-kick and five missing. Nigbur was the hero for Schalke, saving two Köln penalties and scoring one himself. Eventually Bernd Cullmann hit the post for Köln and sent Schalke to the final, which they later won 5-0 against Kaiserslautern.
1980: Litti, Tony and Toni win it for Köln
10th May, 1980: Semi-final, Schalke 04 0-2 1. FC Köln
In front of a half-empty Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen, Schalke were under pressure to win and thereby ease their financial worries. Köln had other ideas however, and, under new manager Karl-Heinz Heddergott, were able to win 2-0 thanks to goals from Pierre Littbarski and million pound signing Anthony Woodcock. Keeper Toni Schumacher also made a number of saves to stop another famous Schalke comeback. Unlike the Schalke of eight years before, they wouldn’t go on to win the DFB-Pokal that year, losing 2-1 to Fortuna Düsseldorf in the final.
1983: The most one-sided tie
1st March, 1983: Quarter-final, 1. FC Köln 5-0 Schalke 04
No cup tie between the two sides has ever been as one-sided as the game in 1983. The lowest crowd in the fixtures history, 13,000 in the Müngersdorfer Stadion, saw Köln demolish Schalke 5-0, with former Schalke star Klaus Fischer causing the most damage with a hat-trick. Stefan Engels and Herbert Zimmermann added the other two goals for a Köln side which would go on to lift the DFB-Pokal that season by defeating city rivals Fortuna Köln 1-0 in the final. Schalke ended up getting relegated in the same season, having earlier claimed to have been concentrating on their relegation battle instead of the cup quarter-final.
2006: Second-division Köln cause an upset
24th October 2006: Second round, 1. FC Köln 4-2 Schalke 04 (after extra time)
After a 23 year break in DFB-Pokal meetings, the 2006 fixture one was another classic. Köln, then in second-division, won a thriller against the side then second in the Bundesliga. After an own-goal from Dario Rodriguez and a Novakovic goal in the space of two minutes, Köln had stunned the pre-match favourites with a 2-0 lead at the break. Schalke head coach Mirko Slomka brought on Peter Lövenkrands, who pulled one back almost immediately, before Rodriguez found the right net to level things up a quarter of an hour before the final whistle. Schalke would then have to play extra time with ten men after Zlatan Bajramovic was sent off for violent conduct. Köln took advantage and sealed the win through goals from Thomas Broich and substitute Adel Chihi in front of 50,000 adoring fans.
2017: Meyer’s header
For the seventh time in the history of the DFB-Pokal, Bundesliga founding members 1. FC Köln and FC Schalke 04 have been drawn against each other, although this will be their eighth meeting having played a replay in the 1972 edition of the competition. Köln, currently in the second-division, have the upper hand, having won five times and lost twice in this fixture. DFB.de takes a look back the previous meetings:
1971: “Overath changes the game”
12th May, 1971: Semi-final, Schalke 04 2-3 1. FC Köln
Both teams went into their first cup meeting on the back of some bad form; Schalke having lost their last four Bundesliga games and Köln their last five out of six. As well as this, both teams were close to falling out of the UEFA-Cup qualification places. A cup run proved a chance to save both teams’ seasons. Schalke, who were fifth in the Bundesliga, were favourites against ninth-placed Köln, mainly because the guests had only won one away game in the whole of the 1970/71 campaign. However the 33,000 fans in the Glückauf-Kampfbahn were in for a treat. Klaus Scheer and “Stan” Libuda gave the Royal Blues a 2-0 lead at the break.
German magazine Kicker had the title “Overath changes the game” after Köln’s captain Wolfgang Overath got one back just after half time with a volley and galvanized the guests. Karl-Heinz Thielen levelled things up with twenty minutes to play and Heinz Flohe sealed the famous comeback five minutes later.
1972: Comeback and penalties galore
30th May, 1972: Semi-final first leg, 1. FC Köln 4-1 Schalke 04
A year later the two teams met again in the semi-finals, which was now a two-legged affair after a rule change. Schalke went into the game in the middle of their then best Bundesliga season, but this proved no help for them on the night. Despite taking the lead through Klaus Fischer, Köln delighted the 28,000 fans in their sold-out Kölner Radrennbahn by scoring four second half goals to take a seemingly strong lead into the second leg.
10th June, 1972: Semi-final second leg, Schalke 04 5-2 1. FC Köln (Schalke won 6-5 on penalties)
Despite the ticket prices being extremely high (25 marks for the most expensive ticket) and Schalke seemingly down and out, 35,000 flocked into the Glückauf-Kampfbahn to see a night of football they would never forget.
Schalke managed to wipe out the three goal deficit in just 41 minutes with goals from Fischer, Rüssmann and Scheer, but Köln quickly pulled one back through Löhr before the half time whistle came. Löhr then converted a penalty for 3-2 (the first of 21 penalties eventually taken on the night!) and it looked as if Schalke’s dream was dead and buried. The last Schalke hope was almost certainly destroyed when Klaus Beverungen missed a penalty with ten minutes to go, but they were to be awarded two more penalties. Köln defender Jupp Kapellmann gave them both away and Helmut Kremers converted them, the second in the fifth minute of added time, to send the game to extra time at 5-2.
Both teams failed to find a winning goal in extra time, despite another penalty (the fifth at this point) being given to Köln. Werner Biskup was however unable to beat Schalke keeper Norbert Nigbur. As a result, the game went to a penalty shootout with 16 players taking a spot-kick and five missing. Nigbur was the hero for Schalke, saving two Köln penalties and scoring one himself. Eventually Bernd Cullmann hit the post for Köln and sent Schalke to the final, which they later won 5-0 against Kaiserslautern.
1980: Litti, Tony and Toni win it for Köln
10th May, 1980: Semi-final, Schalke 04 0-2 1. FC Köln
In front of a half-empty Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen, Schalke were under pressure to win and thereby ease their financial worries. Köln had other ideas however, and, under new manager Karl-Heinz Heddergott, were able to win 2-0 thanks to goals from Pierre Littbarski and million pound signing Anthony Woodcock. Keeper Toni Schumacher also made a number of saves to stop another famous Schalke comeback. Unlike the Schalke of eight years before, they wouldn’t go on to win the DFB-Pokal that year, losing 2-1 to Fortuna Düsseldorf in the final.
1983: The most one-sided tie
1st March, 1983: Quarter-final, 1. FC Köln 5-0 Schalke 04
No cup tie between the two sides has ever been as one-sided as the game in 1983. The lowest crowd in the fixtures history, 13,000 in the Müngersdorfer Stadion, saw Köln demolish Schalke 5-0, with former Schalke star Klaus Fischer causing the most damage with a hat-trick. Stefan Engels and Herbert Zimmermann added the other two goals for a Köln side which would go on to lift the DFB-Pokal that season by defeating city rivals Fortuna Köln 1-0 in the final. Schalke ended up getting relegated in the same season, having earlier claimed to have been concentrating on their relegation battle instead of the cup quarter-final.
2006: Second-division Köln cause an upset
24th October 2006: Second round, 1. FC Köln 4-2 Schalke 04 (after extra time)
After a 23 year break in DFB-Pokal meetings, the 2006 fixture one was another classic. Köln, then in second-division, won a thriller against the side then second in the Bundesliga. After an own-goal from Dario Rodriguez and a Novakovic goal in the space of two minutes, Köln had stunned the pre-match favourites with a 2-0 lead at the break. Schalke head coach Mirko Slomka brought on Peter Lövenkrands, who pulled one back almost immediately, before Rodriguez found the right net to level things up a quarter of an hour before the final whistle. Schalke would then have to play extra time with ten men after Zlatan Bajramovic was sent off for violent conduct. Köln took advantage and sealed the win through goals from Thomas Broich and substitute Adel Chihi in front of 50,000 adoring fans.
2017: Meyer’s header
19th December 2017: Last 16, Schalke 04 1-0 1. FC Köln
In last season’s meeting one would have expected a heavy scoreline in favour of Schalke, due to the fact that they were second and Köln were sitting bottom of the Bundesliga going into the winter break with just six points. Stefan Ruthenbeck, the then Köln manager, had just been informed the day before that he would coach the troubled side till the end of the season and this decision was rewarded as Köln fought hard, eventually losing 1-0 to a Max Meyer header. 56,392 fans were there for arguably a fairly mundane clash between these two teams, an exception for this DFB-Pokal fixture.
