FC Schalke 04 (Germany)

FC Schalke 04

Ground: Veltins-Arena

Capacity: 62,273

Club Founded: 1904

League: Bundesliga (current level)

Based in Gelsenkirchen, FC Schalke 04 is one of German football’s most historic clubs, with a passionate following and deep roots in the industrial Ruhr region. From Bundesliga glory to the challenges of rebuilding, Schalke’s story reflects the pride, passion and traditions of German football.

Club History

Early Years

Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, to credit them with their full title, is a football club from the mining town of Gelsenkirchen, to the north of the Ruhr in north-west Germany. The club was formed in May 1904 as Westfalia Schalke to reflect their location. 

Acceptance into any official leagues proved difficult, so in 1912, they joined forces with Schalker Turnverein 1877. The arrangement lasted three years before SV Westfalia Schalke became an independent club, before reuniting in 1919 as Turn-und Sportverein Schalke 1877.

In 1922-23, Schalke won the Schalke Kreisliga championship and was nicknamed Die Knappen, translated as the Miners. Many players were employed in that industry. A year later, the club adopted its present title and started wearing blue and white. A second nickname, Die Königsblauen, was added, meaning the Royal Blues.

Glückauf-Kampfbahn Stadion

German Champions

Schalke became dominant locally, winning the Gauliga Ruhr and reaching the opening rounds of the national championship. They built a new home, the Glückauf-Kampfbahn Stadion. In 1928-29, the team won the West German championship and were banned for six months for paying their players during an amateur era. 

In their first game after the ban in 1931, a crowd of 70,000 flocked to Glückauf-Kampfbahn for the game against Fortuna Düsseldorf. A year later, Schalke reached the national semi-final before the Third Reich restructured German football. The team won Gauliga Westfalen in all eleven seasons it was held.

After losing to Fortuna Düsseldorf in the national final, trainer Hans Schmidt led the team to the title in 1934 when they beat 1. FC Nuremberg 2-1 at Poststadion in Berlin. Fritz Szepan and Ernst Kuzorra scored the goals in the last two minutes.

Die Knappen

The Golden Years

The following year, Schalke beat VfB Stuttgart 6-4 at Müngersdorfer Stadion in Köln. Ernst Pörtgen bagged a hat trick. Adolf Urban, Rudolf Gellesch and Ernst Kalwitzki scored the other goals. Schalke also reached two Tschammer-Pokal finals (the forerunner of the DFB Pokal/German FA Cup) that ended in defeats to 1. FC Nürnberg and VfL Leipzig.

Fortuna Düsseldorf were then defeated 2-1 in the 1937 Tschammer-Pokal final. Over 100,000 fans were at Berlin’s Olympiastadion to see Schalke beat 1. FC Nürnberg 2-0 with goals from Pörtgen and Kalwitzki to become national champions.

Graffiti at Glückauf-Kampfbahn Stadion

German Dominance

In 1939, SK Admira Wien were hammered 9-0 in a tempestuous encounter in which Kalwitzki scored five times. Szepan, Urban, Kuzorra and Otto Tibulsky also scored under trainer Otto Faist. They retained the title when Dresdner SC were defeated 1-0 in the final with a Kalwitzki goal. 

The team lost a couple of Tschammer-Pokal finals. However, the 1942 Schalke were crowned national champions for a fifth time, beating First Vienna 2-0 when Kalwitzki and Szepan scored. The club became a founding member of Oberliga West after the war ended. At the start of the following decade, the team were crowned champions before finishing runners-up.

In 1954-55, Schalke lost to Karlsruher SC in the DFB Pokal final. Three years later, under trainer Eduard Frühwirth, they won the Oberliga title and became national champions. Hamburger SV were defeated 3-0 at the Niedersachsenstadion in Hannover, with Manfred Kreuz adding to a Berni Klodt double in the showpiece final.

Parkstadion in its prime

The Bundesliga Era

Schalke became a founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963-64, in which the team struggled for several seasons, despite Klaus Matischak's goals. The team lost to Bayern München in the DFB Pokal final before the decade was over. The team showed signs of improvement, which would bear fruit in 1971-72 under trainer Ivica Horvat.

Klaus Fischer and Klaus Scheer's goals helped Schalke to the Bundesliga runners-up spot. They also won the DFB Pokal 5-0 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in Hannover. Erwin Kremers scored twice. Scheer, Fischer and Herbert Lütkebohmert also got on the scoresheet.

Parkstadion in 2012

Ups, Downs, and Controversy

However, the joy was tainted. Several players, including German internationals Fischer, Stan Libuda and Klaus Fichtel, were initially given life bans for match-fixing, which were later reduced. In 1973, the first team moved to the new out-of-town Parkstadion, built for the 1974 World Cup with a capacity of 70,000. Schalke’s other sides remained at Glückauf-Kampfbahn Stadion.

The prolific Fischer carried on where he left off before his ban as the club recovered. They finished as Bundesliga runners-up in 1976-77. Despite goals from the emerging Rüdiger Abramczik, the team then struggled once again before being relegated in 1980-81. Sigfried Held trained them to promotion the following year. Norbert Nigbur remained reliable in goal.

European Glory

Schalke became a yo-yo club, being relegated before returning to the Bundesliga. Jens Lehmann kept goal at the beginning of the 1990s. Huub Stevens led the team in a period of top-flight stability and winning a place in the UEFA Cup.

In 1996-97, the team reached the UEFA Cup final. Internazionale were defeated after a penalty shoot-out at the San Siro, after the scores were level on aggregate. Olaf Thon stepped forward to lift the trophy. In the first full season of the new millennium, Schalke ended Bundesliga runners-up. Jörg Böhme scored twice as Union Berlin were beaten 2-0 in the DFB Pokal final. 

Veltins-Arena Era

The new Veltins-Arena replaced the outdated Parkstadion. The team retained the DFB Pokal with a 4-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen. Andreas Möller and Victor Agali added to Böhme and Sand's goals. Ralf Rangnick led the side to the 2004-05 DFB-Pokal final, where they lost to Bayern München and finished Bundesliga runners-up with Aílton top-scoring.

The team reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals, where they lost to eventual winners Sevilla FC. Kevin Kurányi scored regularly before Schalke finished league runners-up in 2009-10, as Jefferson Farfán created chances for the team led by Felix Magath prior to Rangnick returning as coach in March 2011.

Rangnick was at the helm as Schalke lifted the 2010-11 DFB-Pokal with a 5-0 hammering of MSV Duisburg as keeper Manuel Neuer captained the star-studded side, including Raúl, Joël Matip and Christoph Metzelder. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar bagged two goals, along with others from Julian Draxler, Benedikt Höwedes and José Manuel Jurado.

Recent Times

The team continued to finish in the places to qualify for European football in the Bundesliga. The guile of midfielder Daniel Caligiuri and Amine Harit helped the team trained by Domenico Tedesco to a league runners-up berth in 2017-18

Dimitrios Grammozis took over as chief trainer before the end of the 2020-21 season, which ended in relegation. Michael Büskens led the side to the 2. Bundesliga title with Simon Terodde as top scorer. Thomas Reis was chief trainer in 2022-23 when Schalke were relegated again. 

Miron Muslic was in charge of the team for the 2025-26 season that won the 2. Bundesliga title to return to the top-flight.

My visit

FC Schalke 04 1 1.FC Nürnberg 0 
Bundesliga - Saturday 27th October 2012

👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 61,673 🎟️ €41.50

I was in Germany on day two of four and eager to have another brilliant day after the pleasures of the day before. I was in really good form, having visited some new grounds and seen a cracking 3-3 draw at 1. FC Köln. The new day was cool but sunny and started well. I'd got inside another excellent venue, the home of KFC Uerdingen in Krefeld.

Fortuna Düsseldorf were at home that afternoon to Wolfsburg, and my hotel was there. I had difficulties accessing the online ticket shop, but I managed to get a password from Schalke. I figured I may not get too many chances to get a ticket for the Veltins-Arena, so I bought one while I could. My seat included delivery to my flat in London.

A large Danish pastry and a coffee put me on track as I took a train to Duisburg, where I had to change for the Gelsenkirchen service. I jumped on board a busy train with plenty of the Königsblauen faithful as well as a gaggle of jolly Hansa Rostock fans. I had seen their side on the way to relegation with mates the previous season in a stinker of a game at Aachen. 

As a result, they found themselves in 3. Bundesliga and heading off to see their favourites playing Borussia Dortmund. Sadly for them, it was Borussia Dortmund II. I was going to talk about how brilliant Uwe Rösler was in his prime, but there's nothing worse than seeing proper fans cry. I smiled and wished them good luck before going downstairs to the trams.

Glückauf-Kampfbahn Stadion

I got on the first one that arrived, despite the Schalke fans looking on. I alighted at the next stop, Heinrich-Konig-Platz and realised the service I required, the 302, was seven minutes away. I went upstairs to look around and to see if I could find a cash machine.  My lord, Gelsenkirchen was desperate. 

It was very much like an old mining town in Yorkshire or Lancashire, really, with a plethora of cheap shops and soulless pedestrianised streets. I returned to the platform as the packed-to-bursting tram arrived. This was no good. I decided to walk. I'd done lots of research. I knew that the Veltins-Arena was in the middle of nowhere.

Glückauf-Kampfbahn Stadion

I also knew the Schalke district was on the way, so I headed in that direction. I wanted to see inside Glückauf-Kampfbahn and enjoy the pre-match atmosphere in a bar or two. It took me about thirty minutes. After crossing Berliner Brücke, I was in Schalke, with fans gathering and entering the fans' initiative bars. I definitely wanted some of this. It just felt traditional. 

My ground-finding nose was working well. I walked down Hubertustrasse, a quiet residential street and saw the gates to the old place ahead. Even better, one of the turnstile gates was open, and I was inside. Youth games were taking place on the artificial pitch as I wandered around taking photos of the stadium and the wonderful graffiti paying homage to the club's history.

Fans Pub in Schalke

I took one last look before returning to the main Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse. I found a clubhouse/bar with no admission restrictions. It was busy, but the efficient staff served me quickly. It got even better as they had the distinctive Frankenheim Alt on draught. A group of blokes next to me were going for it. They were on Jagermeister chasers!  

After a couple of alts, I chose the local Veltins just to get into the spirit of the occasion. I managed to get a seat and chatted to two older blokes and a youngster who turned out to be Schalke fans from Hamburg. They were amazed when I told them of my weekend adventures. The day was going so well. I decided it was time to head off as time was getting on. 

Parkstadion

If possible, I wanted to see the Parkstadion. I found a seat when I boarded the tram at the Ernst-Kuzorra-Platz stop, which was tastefully named after an old club hero. The younger, rowdier fans alighted at the Willy-Brandt-Allee stop and all gathered together before moving on. I stayed on until the Arena stop. 

I crossed the bridge towards the towering floodlights of the Parkstadion, which I always thought looked better than many in the UK. I got a good view from the side of the huge Arena hotel. It was once a huge bowl, but now a training pitch with only the seating opposite where the enormous Main Stand once stood remaining.

Parkstadion

I went inside the hotel to use the loos. Hordes of fans were booking into their rooms and drinking at the bars. I thought they were leaving it late, but I wasn't going to miss kick-off! I had my walking legs on, which was as well. It was a long way round the stadium, which sat above the walkways. I eventually found my gate and was given a quick frisk. 

Inside, I walked up the steps to the outdoor concourse. I was in a real hurry, with only thirty minutes until kick-off and a huge hunger to satisfy. I even went past the blokes with the free programmes. Little did I realise. On the concourse, I purchased an Arena Card from a helpful lady who spoke good English. 

I looked down at a fan's area outside the stadium where the youths from the tram looked to be. It then dawned on me. Somehow I'd arrived ninety minutes before kick-off! I laughed to myself. At least I'd seen everything I'd set out to see, and there were worse places to be early.

I ate a bratwurst and checked the menu to see what else they sold. My beer didn't touch the sides after my walk, so I went and got another. By now I'd also sussed out that frikadelle were like a thick burger, and bloody nice! I was directed back downstairs for the programme, wishing I'd been more vigilant as my legs ached after climbing back up. 

I checked where my seat was and then did a full lap around the concourse to take photos. It was nice to have stewards who were chilled out and not looking to be awkward. I went to my seat, realising I was so high up that the roof beams blocked a clear view of the video screen that sat high over the pitch. 

The Veltins-Arena was very impressive. It had a retractable roof, which was open on this occasion and two continuous tiers, with corporate boxes in between. The atmosphere was good. I later heard Johnny Gould on Talksport describe it as a huge basketball arena on drugs, which wasn't too bad a call. 

The match build-up on my visit

Many more football videos are available on Rob’s Roving Sports Report

The music cranked the crowd up, as a couple of rousing club songs, Blau und weiß, wie lieb ich Dich; "Blue and White, How I Love You" and Königsblauer S04; "Royal Blue S04", were played before the teams came out into the sunlight with Status Quo's 'Whatever You Want' booming out. 

The Nuremberg support in the capacity crowd was most impressive, with plenty of extra fans finding their way into the home fans' sections without any problems. Well, I say that, but one poor bloke tried coming up the stairs with two card trays full of beer before tripping and spilling most of it. All that was missing was Eddie Waring's "Oh he's a poor lad" commentary.

Schalke were full of confidence after a midweek win away to Arsenal in the Champions League and their win against Dortmund in the Ruhr derby. Nürnberg were positioned near the bottom of the table. However, they were making a really good fist of things and went in at half-time on deserved level terms.

The two big locals next to me never stopped drinking all the match, with them taking it in turns to go downstairs for the lubrication. They were very pleasant. They offered me a cigar, which, tempting though it was, I managed to turn down. It was certainly a more relaxed way of watching a game than in the UK. 

The home fans became restless in the second half as their team struggled to score. I was convinced the game would end scoreless. Dortmund going into a 2-0 lead at Freiburg didn't help the mood. Holtby was substituted before a breakthrough with thirteen minutes remaining as Jefferson Farfan volleyed Christian Fuchs' left-wing cross into the corner of the net. 

Schalke held on without any dramas. The home fans sang a song to the tune of Moonlight Shadow. I headed out and along the concourse as far as I could, near the tram station, returning my card as I went. Despite the huge crowd, it was easy to get out. Rogue vendors who set up stalls in the middle of the walkways didn't help. 

I got on a tram straight away and managed to catch the 6.04 train back to Düsseldorf, which amazed me. The train emptied en route. I had a cat nap, then freshened up before heading on the U-Bahn to the Altstadt. I was on a 5.30 train the next morning, but the clocks were going back an hour to signify the start of winter. I reckoned a good drink, without going over the top, was in order. 

At Schloesser Brauhaus, one of my favourite establishments, I enjoyed their beautiful altbier, served by a kind waiter who helped me along and made sure I never waited long. Three men who'd gone to Fortuna, who lost 4-1 to Wolfsburg, joined me at the table as we watched the day's goals in a rolling highlights programme.

I am by no means fluent in German, but we got through to each other as we all tried hard. Smiles and sign language can go an awful long way if you really want them to. I ended up in a small bar decorated with chickens, which had a great atmosphere. Time was getting on, and I wanted to leave with a clear head.

I bought some delicious slabs of pork in bread from the corner takeaway that had never let me down, and headed back to my budget hotel. I was back on the U-Bahn and in bed in less than thirty minutes. The experience at Schalke, with their warm, friendly fans, made my day. It had been a great experience.