Schalke 04

FC Schalke Overview

FC Schalke was founded on May 4th 1904 by a group of high school kids and turned professional in 1924. The most notable years for the team were from 1934 till 42, when they won both the German Cup and German Championship several times. The team’s worst performance came in the eighties when they fought against being relegated from the Bundesliga. During the 1990s the structure of the organization changed, and Schalke won their first UEFA Cup in 1997. From the start of the new millennium till present day, the team has been on a rise to success as they continue to peruse more titles and championships.

Schalke 04 Club History

FC Schalke 04 was founded on May 4th 1904 by a group of high school kids, led by Heinrich Hilgert, from Gelsenkirchen suburb of Schalke, Germany. In order to be able to enter the Westdeutscher Spielverban, The German Football Association, they were forced to merge with the Turnverein Schalke which already was part of it. The gymnasts and the football players parted ways on January 5th 1924. FC Schalke became an independent football organization and changed their colours from red and yellow or blue and white. The team’s first game was against Borussia Dortmund, which they won 4-2.

The team had a rocky start in their first few seasons. The club renamed itself FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 after building their new stadium, Glückauf-Kampfbahn, in 1928, , as a tribute to the city of Gelsenkirchen, which provided financial assistance towards construction of their new stadium. Following that year controversy broke out as treasurer of the team Willy Nier violated the law, and paid 14 players in order to play in games and attend practice. As a result, those 14 players were suspended and eight members of the Board were expelled from the Western German Association. However, after the ban on the team was lifted, 70,000 fans attended their first game back in a victory against Fortuna Düsseldorf, which was the start of their success.

Following that season, Schalke FC joined one of the top flight divisions in German Football, which was established in order to replace innumerable regional and local leagues, and quickly rose to success. Between 1933 and 1942 they appeared in 14 of 20 championships and cup finals, first of which came June 24th 1934, when the club were crowned the German Champions. Ernst Kalwitzki, Fritz Szepan, Ala Urban and Ernst Kuzorra were the top players during their championship era. However, when World War Two began in 1942 football stopped in Germany.

It resumed again in 1946, and Schalke FC continued were they left of. In their first home game Schalke defeated Westfalia Herne 5-0 and broke their record of highest ever win in a 20 point victory during an away game against SpVgg. Herten. They earned another Westphalian championship title in 1947. Two years later club legends Ernst Kuzorra and Fritz Szepan ended their careers. However, this did not stop the club from winning the Oberliga West title only a year later, and another one in 1958.

Schalke FC became one of the founding members of the BundesLiga, the German Premier League, in 1963 and their triumph started to decline. The club almost got relegated in 1965, after finished 16th place, but were saved due to the expansion of the league from 16 to 18 teams. The most success the club had reached was the semi-finals European-Cup-Winners Cup.

The team’s fate turned around in 1972, as it accumulated a total of 52 points and became the runner up in the German Championship. However, that same year Schalke FC 04 won the German Cup in an impressive 5-0 win over Kaiserslautern.

Despite the victories that season, the organization was accused of accepting bribes as part of the widespread Bundesliga scandal in 1971. Three Schalke players were banned for life after an investigation proved that they were bribed into deliberately loosing to Arminia Bielefeld by a score of 0:1. During the height of the scandal, the club relocated to Parkstadion, a newly built stadium with the total capacity of 70,000. Their first game at the new stadium was against Feyenoord Rotterdam.

In the following seasons the controversy started to die down, and the team continued to be successful. On June 11th 1976 Klaus Fischer became the Bundesliga's leading scorer with 29 goals. Schalke FC became second place in 1977, just one point behind champions Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Unfortunately this streak of victories did not carry into the eighties as they got relegated several times through out of the decade. Their first time being demoted was in 1981, after they finished 17th place. They got promoted a year later as they became Second Division Champs, and again got relegated in 1983. They got promoted in 1984, and stayed there for only four years. In 1991 the team achieved a promotion to first division.

During the 90’s the team went through many transitions. The first thing which was changed is the way that management operates. Also, they created a new constitution for the club, leading the way for the rest of the Bundesliga. These changed proved to be positive as the team won the UEFA Cup in 1997 against Inter Milan for the first time in front of 81,675 people. Following that victory, the team went to other UEFA Cups but where not able win.

From the start of the new millennium till present day, the team has been doing well. They won the German Cup in the 2001/02 season, and finished runner up in 2005 and 2007. The team relocated to the Veltins-Arena, in 2001, one of the most modern stadiums in the world. Under the captaining of Marcelo José Bordon, they are currently competing in the UEFA Champions League.

Club Rivalries

• Borussia Dortmund

Stars of the Current Schalke Squad

Marcelo José Bordon - He is the captain and key defender for Schalke FC. He became captain during the 2006/2007 season.

Søren Larsen - Larsen started playing for Schalke on July 31st 2005. He is known as “the weapon “ and “The Danish Joker” on the team for his ability to come into the game as a substitute and score a game winning goal. He also plays for the Danish national team.

Club Legends

Marc Wilmots

• Appearances: 104 goals: 21
• Belgium team: Appearances: 104 goals: 28
• He was nicknamed the fighting pig when playing for Schalke

Friedrich "Fritz" Szepan

• German National team: Appearances: 34 Goals: 8
• He is regarded as one of the greatest Schalke players of all time. He won six national championships with the team.

Rolf Rüssmann

• Appearances: 105 goals: 10
• West Germany national team: Appearances: 20 Goals: 1
• He is known as one of the best defenders in German football history.

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Team Honours

• German champions: 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1958
• German runners-up: 1933, 1938, 1941, 1972, 1977, 2001, 2005, 2007
• German Cup winners 1937, 1972, 2001, 2002
• German Cup finalists: 1935, 1936, 1941, 1942, 1955, 1969, 2005
• League Cup winners: 2005
• League Cup finalists: 2001, 2002, 2007
• UEFA Cup winners: 1997
• Coppa delle Alpi 1968
• UEFA Intertoto Cup winners 2003, 2004

Schalke Club Management

• Josef Schnusenberg — Chairman
• Mirko Slomka — manager

Uniforms

• Home: blue shirt with white trim, blue shorts
• Away: white shirt with blue trim, white shorts

Gelsenkirchen Stadium

FC Schalke plays out of Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Schalke have been playing there since 2001. It is considered one of the most modern buildings in Germany, as it has a retractable roof similar to the one in the University of Phoenix stadium. It has played host to different types of venues including concerts and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Sponsors

• Gazprom
• [www.adidas.com/ Adidas]
• [www.boeklunder.de/ Boklunder]
• [www.sinalco.de/ Sinalco]
• [www.victoria.de Victoria]

Important Links

• [Official league website]
• [Veltins stadium]

References

• http://worldsoccer.about.com/od/germanclubs/p/schalke.htm
• http://www.schalke04.de/club.html
• http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/schalke.html