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'FC Schalke 04' is a German football club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ''Schalke'' has long been one of the most popular football teams in Germany, even though major successes have been rare since the club's heyday in the 1930s and early 1940s. The football team is part of a larger sports club. With over 65,000 members (August 2007) it is the second largest sports club in Germany. Other activities offered by the club include basketball, handball, and track and field. FC Schalke 04 won its first major European trophy in 1997 by defeating F.C. Internazionale Milano on penalty kicks for the UEFA Cup in Milan.
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Contents

History

Schalke's early years

Rise to dominance

The championship years 1934-42

Postwar football

Entry to the Bundesliga

The Bundesliga Scandal of 1971

Crisis and recovery

Current

Stadium

Team trivia

Club songs

Honours

Players

2007/08 Squad

Notable former players

"Team of the century"

Other notable players

Notable former managers

External links

History

Schalke's early years

The club was founded on May 4, 1904 as ''Westfalia Schalke'' by a group of high school students and first wore the colors red and yellow. The team was unable to gain admittance to the ''Westdeutscher Spielverband'' and played as one of the "wild associations" of early German football. In 1912, after a number of years of failed attempts to join the official league, they merged with the gymnastic club ''Schalker Turnverein 1877'' in order to facilitate their entry. This arrangement held up until 1915 when ''SV Westfalia Schalke'' was re-established as an independent club. The separation proved short-lived and the two came together again in 1919 as ''Turn- und Sportverein Schalke 1877''. The new club won its first honours in 1923 as champions of the Schalke Kreisliga. It was around this time that ''Schalke'' picked up the nickname "Die Knappen" – from an old German word for miner – because the team drew so many of its players and supporters from the coal mine workers of Gelsenkirchen.
In 1924, the football team parted ways with the gymnasts once again – this time taking the club chairman along with them. They took the name ''FC Schalke 04'' and adopted the now familiar blue and white uniforms from which their second nickname would derive – "Die Königsblauen" (The Royal Blues). The following year the club became the dominant local side based on a style of play that used short, sharp man-to-man passing to move the ball. This system would later become famous as the "Schalker Kreisel" (spinning top). In 1927, it carried them into the top-flight Gauliga Ruhr, onto the league championship, and then into the opening rounds of the national finals.

Rise to dominance

The popular club built a new stadium, the Glückauf-Kampfbahn, in 1928, and acknowledged the city's support by re-naming themselves ''FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04''. They won their first Western German championship in 1929, but the following year were sanctioned for exceeding salary levels set by the league and, in an era that considered professionalism in sport anathema, found themselves banned from play for nearly half a year. However, the ban had little impact on the team's popularity: in their first game after the ban against ''Fortuna Düsseldorf'' in June of 1931, the team drew 70,000 to its home ground.
With the re-organization of German football in 1933 under Nazi Germany, ''Schalke'' found themselves in the Gauliga Westfalen, one of sixteen top-flight divisions established to replace the innumerable regional and local leagues all claiming top status. After many years of being dominant regionally, ''Schalke'' finally made a breakthrough on the national level when they advanced to the German championship match that year against ''Düsseldorf'', where they lost 0:3. That advance set the team up for the most successful decade in their history: from 1933 to 1942 the club would appear in 14 of 18 national finals - 10 in the German championship and 8 in the ''Tschammerpokal'', the predecessor to today's German Cup.

The championship years 1934-42

''Schalke's first national title came in 1934 with a 2:1 victory over favorites ''1. FC Nürnberg''. The next year they defended their title against ''VfB Stuttgart'' in a 6:4 win. The club missed the 1937 final, but would make appearances in the championship match in each of the next six years coming away victorious in 1937, 1939, 1940, and 1942. Three of those national finals were against Austrian teams – ''Admira Vienna'', ''Rapid Vienna'', and ''First Vienna'' – which played in Germany's Gauliga Ostmark after Austria's incorporation into the Reich through the Anschluss in 1938.
"Die Königsblauen" also made frequent appearances in the final of the Tschammerpokal, but enjoyed much less success there. They lost the inaugural Tschammerpokal 0:2 to ''Nūrnberg'' in 1935. They also made failed appearances in the 1936, 1941, and 1942 finals with their only Cup victory coming in 1937 against ''Düsseldorf''.
Over a dozen seasons from 1933 to 1945 ''Schalke'' accumulated an astounding record, winning 162 of 189 Gauliga matches, drawing 21 and losing only 6. On the way they scored 924 goals and gave up just 145. From 1935 to 1939 they did not lose a single league match. The club's dominance throughout this period led them to be held up for propaganda purposes by the Nazi regime as an example of the "new Germany". This was despite the fact that many players were descended from Polish immigrants, most notably the two stars of the team, Fritz Szepan and Ernst Kuzorra.

Postwar football

With Germany in chaos towards the end of World War II, ''Schalke'' played just two matches in 1945. They resumed regular play following the war and for a time continued to compete as a strong side. They set a record in a national championship match with a 20:0 drubbing of ''SpVgg Herten'', but that spoke more to the weakened condition of German football than the ability of the team. ''Schalke's play fell off and the best they could manage in the new Oberliga West in 1947 was a sixth place finish: within two years they slipped to 12th place. It would take them until the mid-50s to recover their form. They finished third in a tight three-way race for the 1954 Oberliga West title decided on the last day of the season. The following year they appeared in the German Cup final where they lost 2:3 to ''Karlsruher SC''. The club's next German championship came in 1958 with a 3:0 victory over ''Hamburger SV''. This is their last national championship title to date.

Entry to the Bundesliga

''Schalke'' continued to play well in the years leading up to the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional league, in 1963, delivering a number of top four finishes. Those results earned them selection as one of sixteen sides admitted to the top flight league.
Their first years in the Bundesliga were difficult. In 1965, they escaped relegation only through the expansion of the league to eighteen teams . A number of finishes far down the league table followed, before a marked improvement culminating in a second place finish to ''Bayern Munich'' in 1972 after having led the league for much of the season. In the same year, ''Schalke'' won the German Cup for the second time in its history.

The Bundesliga Scandal of 1971

Despite their improved results, the seeds of a major reversal had already been sown. A number of the team's players and officials were accused of accepting bribes as part of the widespread Bundesliga scandal of 1971. Investigation showed that ''Schalke'' had played so as to deliberately lose their May 17 28th round match against ''Arminia Bielefeld'' by a score of 0:1. As a result several ''Schalke'' players were banned for life, including three - Klaus Fischer, "Stan" Libuda and Klaus Fichtel - who were with the German national team of the time. Even though the penalties were later commuted to bans ranging from six months to two years, the scandal had a profound effect on what might have become one of the dominant German teams of the 1970s.

Crisis and recovery

In 1973, the club moved to the ''Parkstadion'', newly built for the 1974 World Cup and having a capacity of 70,000 spectators. In the wake of the scandal, the club's performance was uneven. They managed another second place result in 1977, finishing just one point behind champions ''Borussia Mönchengladbach''.
In the early 1980s ''Die Knappen'' ran into trouble and found themselves relegated to the 2.Bundesliga for the 1981-82 season and again in 1983-84. They returned to the top flight in 1984, and after slipping once more to tier II in 1988, have stayed up as a Bundesliga side since 1991-92. The club earned their first honours since their 1958 national title with a victory in the 1997 UEFA Cup over Italian side ''Inter Milan'' on penalties.
The turn of the millennium has seen much stronger performances from ''Schalke''. During the 1990s and early 2000, the club underwent a successful transformation into a modern commercial sports organization and established itself as one of the dominant teams of the Bundesliga. ''Schalke'' captured consecutive German Cups in 2001-02, and earned second place finishes in the Bundesliga in 2001 and 2005. The 2001 finish was heartbreaking for supporters of ''Die Königsblauen'' as it took a goal in the 4th minute of injury time by ''Bayern'' away to ''Hamburg'' to snatch the title.

Current

The last three years has been more successful for Schalke finishing second place in 2005, which lead to Schalke making its second appearance in the UEFA Champions League. There, Schalke finished in 3rd place during the group stage, with successful continuation in the UEFA Cup, where Schalke was eliminated by the eventual winner of the cup Sevilla FC in the semifinal. In 2006 Schalke finished in 4th place in the Bundesliga and a year later they once again finished as runners-up (for the 3rd time in 7 seasons).
On October 9, 2006, it was announced that Russian company Gazprom would become the club's new sponsor. The company expects to invest as much as €125 million in the club over a 5½ year period. [1]

Stadium

The club's stadium, known as the Veltins-Arena under a sponsorship agreement with a brewery, was completed in the summer of 2001 and has a capacity of 61,482 spectators. ''Schalke'' regularly draws sell-out crowds to what is widely regarded as one of the most modern and best multi-use facilities in Europe. The facility was previously known as the Arena AufSchalke and replaced the Parkstadion (capacity 71,000) built in 1973. Prior to this the club had played its matches in the Glückauf-Kampfbahn constructed in 1928 with a capacity of 35,000. The facility was used for amateur matches during its latter years with a reduced capacity of just 5,000.

Team trivia

★ The mascot of the club is called Erwin (also Ährwin.)

★ Pope John Paul II became an honorary member of the club in 1987 after celebrating a mass in the ''Parkstadion''.

★ Schalke was mentioned in the film Das Boot when the bosun told the crew in their ward room "I got bad news for you men. Schalke lost 5:0, looks like we won't be in the final this year!"

★ Schalke has a rivalry with the club of Borussia Dortmund (see Revierderby) and also has a friendly relationship with 1.FC Nürnberg.

Club songs

"Blau und weiss wie lieb ich Dich" (Blue and White How I Love You) and "Königsblauer S04" (Royal Blue S04) are the official club songs. "Opa Pritschikowski" is also popular with fans of the 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

Players

2007/08 Squad

Players in 'bold' have international caps.

Notable former players

"Team of the century"

To celebrate the 100th birthday of the club, the supporters voted the ''Schalker Jahrhundertelf'', the "Team of the century":
'Goalkeeper:'

★ Norbert Nigbur
'Defender:'

★ Klaus Fichtel

★ Rolf Rüssmann

★ Olaf Thon
'Midfielder:'

★ Marc Wilmots

★ Fritz Szepan

★ Ernst Kuzorra

★ Ingo Anderbrügge
'Striker:'

★ Stan Libuda

★ Klaus Fischer

★ Rüdiger Abramczik
'Coach:'

★ Huub Stevens

Other notable players

Ailton	Ünal Alpuğan	Jörg Böhme	Herbert Burdenski	Bernard Dietz
René Eijkelkamp	Frode Grodås	Tomasz Hajto	Kurt Jara	Bernie Klodt
Johan de Kock	Erwin Kremers	Helmut Kremers	Radoslav Látal	Jens Lehmann
Lincoln	Herbert Lütkebohmert	/ Enver Marić	Martin Max	Andreas Möller
Émile Mpenza	Youri Mulder	Hermann Nattkämper	Jiří Němec	Ernst Poertgen
Christian Poulsen	Oliver Reck	Frank Rost	Ebbe Sand	Harald Schumacher
Otto Tibulski	Adolf Urban	Nico Van Kerckhoven	Sven Vermant	Tomasz Wałdoch

Notable former managers

★ Rudi Assauer

★ Jörg Berger

★ Klaus Fischer

★ Rudi Gutendorf

★ Jupp Heynckes

★ Udo Lattek

★ Gyula Lóránt

★ Max Merkel

★ Friedel Rausch

★ Oliver Reck

★ Huub Stevens

★ Marc Wilmots

External links

★ Official site of Schalke 04

★ Official site of ''Schalke's Veltins Arena

★ The Abseits Guide to German Soccer

★ Schalke news journal

★ Schalker Fanclub Verband Fan site, discussion and ticket information

★ Ultras Gelsenkirchen

★ Schalke 04 Supporters Club

★ Official Gelsenkirchen site Tourism information with excellent profiles of the city and a history of the Ruhr region.

★ Aufschalke2006 website A guide to Gelsenkirchen as one of the host cities of the upcoming 2006 World Cup, with information about the club, the city and the Ruhr region.