Slightly bending my self-imposed ‘lower leagues’ remit on the very first day here, in that I am watching a Bundesliga 1 team, albeit playing away at a Regionalliga West side. But there are good reasons for a football fan to take a more-than-cursory glance at this pre-season derby friendly game. This year is the 40th anniversary of the Cup Final meeting between these two teams* which occurred in 1983 and is (to date) the only cup final contested between two teams from the same city (actually played in Köln and won 1-0 by FC). In addition, this year is also the 75th anniversary of the founding of both clubs. So I can expect to hear (as well as drink) a whole lot of Kölsch ** today.
*The 1983 Final : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_DFB-Pokal_final
** Kölsch refers to both the dialect, and the beer, of Köln (see below)
