Best-of list · Sports Guide
Ten ranked Cologne bars to watch the game, from Old Town Irish pubs with English commentary to FC Koln brewhouses and a Belgian Quarter football bar.
The short answer
10 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
Cologne is a football city to its core, and 1. FC Koln runs through everything. A Bundesliga weekend fills the Old Town pubs, the Champions League pulls the international crowd, and the Premier League finds a home in the Irish bars that keep the English commentary on. A real game day bar here clears four things: screens that no seat misses, sound on the match that matters, fresh Kolsch poured fast, and a crowd that turns a goal into a roar. These ten get matchday right across the city.
For English commentary and an international crowd, the Old Town Irish pubs are the reliable home of a Premier League weekend.
How we picked
We rank Cologne game day bars on screen count and sightlines, sound policy, which leagues each room reliably carries, the crowd, and how each room handles a Bundesliga weekend or a Premier League kickoff. We checked every bar here against its own current listing and at least one independent source, including LiberoGuide, Rausgegangen Cologne and the venues' own listings. For the wider picture, see our pillar guide to the best bars for watching the game, our ranking of the best cities for sports bars, and the Cologne sports bar hub.
Last reviewed June 3, 2026 by the barsforKings editorial desk.
Barney Vallely's and The Corkonian in the Old Town are the Irish pubs that keep the English commentary on for a Premier League weekend. Both sit near the Alter Markt and draw an international crowd for the headline match.
Brauhaus zum Prinzen on the Alter Markt and Point One in the Mediapark put the 1. FC Koln match at the center, with fresh Kolsch and a football first local crowd. Both carry the Bundesliga and the German national team.
Gilden im Zims sits by the Heumarkt square that hosts the city's tournament fan zone, a four floor brewhouse with a big screen and two terraces. Kulisse near the Town Hall runs late and switches to party mode after the final whistle.
Gottes Grune Wiese in the Belgian Quarter and Ubier Schanke in Sudstadt draw devoted regulars who come for the football, the music and the table football. Both lean local rather than touristy for a derby night.
Marcus covers football bars across Europe and the Americas. He ranks game day rooms on sound policy, which leagues they carry, and how a room handles a Bundesliga or Premier League kickoff.
Last reviewed 2026-06-03 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.