SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: May 4, 1904
Club Members: 180,000
Nickname: Die Knappen
Coach: Jakob Fimpel
Captain: Kenan Karaman

German Champions / Bundesliga: 7
DFB-Pokal: 5
DFB-Ligapokal: 1
Bundesliga.2 Champions: 3
German Super Cup Winners: 1
UEFA Cup: 1
Western German Cup: 1

Website: www.schalke04.de

Once known as the 'City of a Thousand Fires' thanks to its coal mining heritage, the city of Gelsenkirchen is home to FC Schalke 04 - one of the footballing giants that today rule an area of the Ruhr known as Der Pott  (The Pit).

The club was formed in 1904 as Westfalia Schalke by a group of local high school students led by Willi Gies and having been rebuffed in their efforts to join the Westdeutscher Spielverband, spent their early years in one the 'wild associations' of early German football. By 1924, the club had taken its present day name and, because so many of its players and fans worked in the coal mines, had also acquired the nickname Die Knappen - an old German term for miners. They became the dominant local side, winning the top-flight Gauliga Ruhr in 1927 with a innovative tactic called the Schalker Kreisel  which used short, sharp, man-to-man passing with players constantly rotating and moving to create space.

In 1928, looking to build on their early success, the club moved into a new stadium called the Glückhauf-Kampfbahn and followed this up with their first German championship a year later. Schalke however have long been a club associated with scandal, and in 1930 were sanctioned for exceeding a salary cap to players. Professional sport was considered an anathema at the time and Schalke's treasurer, Willie Nier, felt so ashamed that he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Rhein-Herne-Canal. The club were duly banned from competing for six months, although this had little effect on the club's popularity with 70,000 fans flocking to the Glückauf for their first game back against Fortuna Düsseldorf. The following years saw the club's golden period and with early stars of the game like Fritz Thelen, Ernst Kuzzora and Fritz Szepan leading them on the pitch, Schalke became German Champions in 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1942. They became the first German club to win the double when the DFB-Pokal was lifted in 1937 as the Köningsblauen  (Royal Blues) enjoyed a remarkable run that boasted an unbeaten home record and only six away defeats between 1933-45. Such was the club's dominance at the time that the Nazi regime held Schalke up as an example of the 'New Germany'.

When football resumed following the chaos of World War 2, Schalke largely picked up where they had left off, performing strongly and winning another national championship in 1958. It was no surprise therefore that they were invited to join the new Bundesliga in 1963 and, although they found the first few years difficult, by the beginning of the 1970s they were once again beginning to assert themselves as a football power. However, they became embroiled in the Bundesligaskandal  of 1971 and were found guilty of accepting a DM 40,000 bribe to throw a match to save Armenia Bielefeld from relegation. It was a nationwide scandal with as many as 50 players and managers from other clubs being implicated, but it was only Schalke who were punished and several of their players, including German internationals 'Stan' Libuda, Klaus Fichtel and Klaus Fischer (the latter is still Schalke’s record goal scorer and is best remembered for striking a memorable bicycle kick goal in the classic 1982 World Cup semi-final against France) were initially banned for life. The club were dubbed 'FC Meineid' (FC Perjury) by rival fans and although the penalties were later reduced on appeal, the damage had been done and the lights went out on a potential new dawn of Schalke dominance.

Despite moving into the newly built 70,000 capacity Parkstadion in 1973, Schalke began to struggle and in 1982 Die Knappen  were relegated from the Bundesliga. This triggered a yo-yo period which saw the club either promoted or relegated in five of the next eleven seasons before steadying the ship following a return to the top-flight in 1992. Under Dutch coach Huub Stevens, they lifted their first silverware in 25 years with a penalty shoot-out victory over Inter Milan in the 1997 UEFA Cup final, earning themselves in the process the new nickname of  'Euro Fighters' on account of Stevens' rigid defensive football. In fact, his maxim "Die Null Muß Stehen ! " ("The zero must stand !") has since found its way into everyday German language and he's become a cult figure amongst the Schalke support.

Quickfire DFB-Pokal trophies were won in 2001 and 2002 but despite the promise, the Bundesliga title continued to elude the men from Gelsenkirchen and they began to establish their lamentable moniker of 'Meister der Herzen ' (The People's Champions) - coming so-near-yet-so-far in a number of title races before ultimately missing out on the big prize. The worst case of 'Schalke-itis' (the act of screwing up when so close to victory) came in 2001 when, having won their final match to claim what they thought was their first Bundesliga title, amidst the celebrations beamed live on TV across Germany came news that Bayern München's Patrik Anderson had scored an injury-time equaliser at Hamburger SV to snatch top spot for the Bavarians. They came close again in 2007, only for fierce rivals Borussia Dortmund to beat them 2-0 in the title run-in and open the door for VfB Stuttgart to steal the glory instead. Dortmund fans didn't let Schalke forget it either - flying a plane over the Veltins Arena the following season with a banner that read "Ein Leben lang, keine Schale in der Hand" ("an entire life without the plate in your hand").

After making his fortune as Germany's "Meat Baron", billionaire Clemens Tönnies became Schalke's de facto club boss in 2006 and immediately strained relations with German football's second largest fanbase as the club, revered for its working-class roots and traditionalism, signed a sponsorship deal through Vladimir Putin with Russian energy giant Gazprom. Despite the protests, the deal helped finance the signings of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Raúl González who dovetailed to devastating effect as the early years of the Tömmies era were defined by consistent top-four finishes and European appearances including a Champions League semi-final against Manchester United in 2011. The 6-1 defeat against the competition's eventual runners-up and Premier League champions that year was dismal, but the future looked bright for the 'Royal Blues' who travelled to Berlin a couple of weeks later and returned with silverware after a 5-0 win over MSV Duisburg in the DFB-Pokal final. 

Since that Pokal victory however, chaos and disorder have come to characterise Schalke as a chronic dearth of foresight, knowledge and leadership on the part of the club hierarchy saw the likes of Sead Kolasinac, Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, Mesut Özil, Leroy Sané, Joel Matip, Max Meyer, Breel Embolo and Leon Goretzka leave for free or for pitiful transfer fees having been allowed to run their contracts down. Weakened by departures, deprived of transfer income and without the appeal or funds to attract quality replacements, the first team soon became a mix of overpromoted hopefuls and underpowered journeymen as Schalke began a derailment from reliable top-five finisher into the mud of mid-table obscurity.

A second-place Bundesliga finish in 2018 was nothing more than a papering over the cracks and it was little surprise when the seven-time German champions were given a 7-0 Champions League mauling by Manchester City the following season and finished just five points clear of relegation in the Bundesliga. Things had begun to unravel off the pitch too with overextension and mismanagement bringing Schalke to the brink of financial ruin with debts of over €200 million threatening to swallow them up. The COVID-19 pandemic hit at a bad time therefore and to kick them while they were down, the bleak Geisterspiele season saw most of the 2020-21 campaign played out behind closed doors with the club losing a reported €2 million of vital revenue per home match. Like many other clubs, Schalke took steps to save money including requests that season ticket holders waive, or at least defer, reimbursement for matches they would no longer be able to attend. But they went a step further by asking fans to submit financial proof of why they couldn't afford to waive their refunds. For Schalke, a club which prides itself on its working-class heritage and family values, it was a PR disaster with the 'S04 Ultras Gelsenkirchen' calling their club "morally bankrupt."

In the end, there are only so many times you can cheat fate if you repeatedly court disaster and on 20th April 2021 - after a despondent campaign which started with an 8-0 walloping at Bayern München and saw Schalke come within 90 minutes of matching Tasmania Berlin's 31-game winless run record - one of the biggest names in German football were relegated from the Bundesliga after a 1-0 defeat at Arminia Bielefeld. At least they went out with a bang though - celebratory fireworks set off over Gelsenkirchen by goading Dortmund fans as anger and frustration at the club's dramatic collapse saw the players given 'a warm reception' by 600 Schalke ultras on their return from Bielefeld that night. Even though they lifted the Bundesliga.2 title in 2022, the transition back to Bundesliga football wasn't handled well again and a 1-3 defeat at FC Köln on the opening day of last season set the tone for a despondent campaign that brought an immediate return to the Zweite Liga.

Despite the disappointments and scandal however, FC Schalke 04 are a club that every fan would agree 'belongs' in the Bundesliga and one of the reasons why 'The Pit' remains such a hotbed of German football.