Cologne part ways with head coach after winless start

Bottom of the league, eight points adrift in last and 11 short of a guaranteed survival spot in the Bundesliga, Cologne have announced the departure of head coach Peter Stöger.

The table footers in Germany’s top tier picked up just their third point of the league season with a draw at high-flying Schalke at the weekend but it wasn’t enough to save Stöger’s job.

The decision to relieve the Austrian of his duties comes just days before what it now unquestionably the club’s biggest game of the season against Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League.

The fact that they qualified for the tournament having finished up in fifth in the Bundesliga last season highlights just how far Cologne have fallen following the departure of star striker Anthony Modeste - who scored 25 league goals last season.

They, along with Benevento in Serie A, are one of just two sides in Europe’s top 5 leagues yet to win a game all season.

Their match in Serbia on Thursday is a winner takes all affair, and victory would assure their place in the knockout stages to shine shame light on a dismal season thus far in which their European duties have served as a potentially fatal distraction.