Cologne’s carnival kit – why is it upside-down?
Yes, you do, and try to look a bit happier about it. After all, it is carnival time
On the face of it, Cologne’s encounter with Stuttgart seemed like a pretty run-of-the-mill Bundesliga fixture. Well, apart from a baffling pre-match parade, a dressed-up goat and one of the world’s most questionable kits.
Cologne is a city that loves a good carnival, and they don’t do things by halves. The annual event runs from November until the middle of February, which means plenty of drinking time.
The city’s top-tier club are a part of it as well. This was the third season in which the Billy Goats have donned a crackers kit to mark the occasion, but that’s not all. First, a number of men, child soldiers – well, children dressed as soldiers – and female acrobats known as the Roten Funken (the Red Sparks) took to the pitch ahead of kick-off, in weird attire right out of some 19th-century period drama. Then they were followed by a Cologne side wearing the kind of themed shirts that’d earn a life sentence from the fashion police – and, no, we’re not sure either why the sponsor’s logo is both upside down and back to front.
To the delight of fans, even the club’s goat mascot, Hennes, got involved.
“It’s a carnival city and even though some fans don’t like us to be known as a ‘Karnevalsverein’ – a carnival club – it’s part of what makes us so very special,” says Brian Shotton, a British regular at the Rheinenergiestadion.
Former Blackburn flop Anthony Modeste fired the hosts ahead from the penalty spot, before Stuttgart went and spoiled all the fun by winning 3-1. Boo.
Not that the result pooh-poohed a parade featuring a giant model of Sepp Blatter complete with Euro notes placed strategically on parts of his body. At least he didn’t have to wear that kit.