FCK star Timo Hübers: Serious knee injury causes great concern!

FCK star Timo Hübers: Serious knee injury causes great concern!

Timo Hübers, FC Cologne's defense chief, was seriously injured in the 82nd minute of the narrow defeat against Borussia Dortmund (0-1). In a hard-fought duel with BVB striker Serhou Guirassy, ​​his right knee twisted so badly that he immediately fell to the ground. The images of the situation suggest something bad: the kneecap appears to have dislocated and the 26-year-old was transported from the stadium in tears with an infusion. His condition has not only severely affected him, but also his teammates and the coaching team, as Bild reports.

Coach Lukas Kwasniok expressed concern about the serious injury. “The players were visibly affected,” he said, adding that they had to finish the game shorthanded as all substitution options had already been exhausted. Kwasniok insists the substitution strategies are risky and admits the fifth substitution would probably have been made even without the injury. There are great fears that Hübers will be out for several months, and a final diagnosis is still pending, as Kicker reports.

Coming challenges

The forecasts are anything but rosy. Players and those in charge speak of a downtime of around 3 to 6 months, which further clouds the prospects for Hübers. His history makes things even more complicated: the defender has already had to deal with cruciate ligament tears twice in the past (in his right knee in 2016 and in his left knee in 2018). The end of his contract with FC Cologne is also approaching in the summer, which puts additional pressure on the situation for Hübers.

“We have to talk about whether we can help him with his comeback,” said sports boss Thomas Kessler, who does not rule out the possibility that a contract extension is being discussed in order to support Hübers during this difficult time. To make the situation even more complicated, Cologne's next game will take place on Wednesday against FC Bayern Munich in the DFB Cup.

Injury statistics

Knee injuries are common in professional sports, with one in seven players in football being affected. According to an analysis by OS Institut, almost 223,098 patients in Germany were in hospital because of knee and lower leg injuries in 2019. The statistics show that such injuries are common in various sports such as handball, basketball and ice hockey, but represent a significant proportion in football at 14.0 percent.

The types of such injuries are often serious: ruptures and partial ruptures of the cruciate ligaments as well as cartilage damage are among the most common. All of these circumstances make it clear how challenging the coming months could be for Timo Hübers and 1. FC Köln. Sporting support for Cologne could be particularly important given the situation.