50 Fun Facts About Schalke 04

Which pope became an honorary member of Schalke 04 after celebrating Mass at the club's stadium?

John Paul II drew a crowd of 85,000 to the ground, far from the only star to fill it: Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones played there too.

Schalke 04's nickname Die Knappen comes from an old German word for which workers who filled its early teams?

Coal miners supplied so many early players and fans that the name stuck, and the club's modern stadium stands above two old pit shafts 800 metres down.

In which German war film do the men hear by radio that Schalke 04 have lost and will miss the final?

Das Boot is set in 1941, when the real Schalke side did reach the German championship final, one of six in a row the team played.

Which goalkeeper rose through Schalke 04's youth teams, captained the club and left for Bayern Munich in 2011?

Manuel Neuer played in every age group at his hometown club and signed off by lifting the German Cup after a 5–0 final win over Duisburg.

What does the 04 stand for in the name of FC Schalke 04, seven-time champions of Germany?

Its founding year is 1904: the club began that May under another name and only became FC Schalke 04 two decades later, in 1924.

Which Russian energy giant did Schalke 04 drop as shirt sponsor in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine?

Gazprom had backed the club since 2006 in a deal first valued at up to €125 million; Schalke cancelled it four days after the invasion began.

Which long-serving Real Madrid captain joined Schalke 04 in 2010 and won the German Cup in his first season?

Raúl arrived after 323 goals for Real Madrid and picked Schalke because the club had qualified for that season's Champions League.

Schalke 04 fans sing a stand-up chant to the tune of which Pet Shop Boys hit, first recorded by Village People?

Go West turned into a terrace favourite across Europe after the 1993 cover, and the Schalke version became one of the most widely copied.

Schalke 04 won the 1997 UEFA Cup final on penalties against which Italian club at the San Siro?

Inter Milan lost the shoot-out 4–1 in the last UEFA Cup final ever played over two legs; later finals were single matches on neutral ground.

What do Germans call the fierce Ruhr rivalry between Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund, clubs about 30 km apart?

Revierderby history began with a 4–2 Schalke win in 1925, and Dortmund needed until 1943 to beat their neighbours for the first time.

Which stadium with a retractable roof and a slide-out pitch has been Schalke 04's home ground since 2001?

Veltins-Arena can slide its whole pitch outdoors within four hours, so the grass grows in daylight and concerts never damage the turf.

Which Dutch coach led Schalke 04 to the 1997 UEFA Cup and was voted the club's manager of the century?

Huub Stevens built the side on rigid defensive discipline, and his motto about keeping a clean sheet became one of German football's best-known sayings.

Which Dutch striker joined Schalke 04 in 2010 and was the Bundesliga's leading scorer with 29 goals in 2011–12?

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar arrived from AC Milan and went on to become the club's second-highest scorer of the Bundesliga era.

Which playmaker, later a World Cup winner and Arsenal star, began his senior career at hometown club Schalke 04?

Mesut Özil left at 19 after a contract row in which the coach declared he would never play for the club again; Werder Bremen signed him in January 2008.

In 2016 Schalke 04 bought the esports team Elements to enter Europe's leading competition in which video game?

League of Legends made Schalke one of the first football clubs with a professional gaming side, following Turkey's Beşiktaş into the scene.

Which American midfielder left FC Dallas's youth system for Schalke 04 and later joined Juventus in 2020?

Weston McKennie's departure for Germany was the main reason FC Dallas went on to create a reserve team, North Texas SC.

Which winger, son of a Senegal international, left Schalke 04 for England in 2016 and later joined Bayern Munich?

Leroy Sané is also the son of an Olympic medal-winning rhythmic gymnast, and was named after Claude Le Roy, a coach his father played under.

Which sport drew a then-world-record crowd of 77,803 to Schalke 04's home stadium for a 2010 World Championship opener?

Ice hockey filled the football ground as hosts Germany beat the USA 2–1 in overtime, with the attendance confirmed by Guinness World Records.

Which club, coached by José Mourinho, won the 2004 Champions League final played at Schalke 04's stadium?

Porto beat Monaco 3–0 in the then-new stadium, and Mourinho left for Chelsea a week after lifting the trophy.

In early 2023 Schalke 04 set a Bundesliga record by playing four consecutive matches that finished with which score?

0–0 four times running came straight after a 6–1 defeat; the tightened defence then won two matches to lift the club off the bottom.

Schalke 04 beat Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 1937 cup final to become the first German club to do what?

To win the double, Schalke added the cup to that summer's national title, although the 1937 final was not actually played until January 1938.

Schalke 04 won a seventh German championship in 1958 by beating which northern club 3–0 in the final?

Hamburger SV lost to a side that won all four finals-round games, and a local church soon gained a stained-glass saint in Schalke colours with a football.

Which Schalke 04 striker, famous for bicycle kicks, scored the overhead goal voted Germany's Goal of the Century?

Klaus Fischer struck it against Switzerland in 1977, and his 182 Bundesliga goals remain the most any player has scored for Schalke in that league.

The Schalker Kreisel, the short-passing style that made Schalke 04 champions in the 1930s, is named after which toy?

Spinning top captured how the ball whirled from man to man in short, flat passes while team-mates kept running into space.

Schalke, the district that gives FC Schalke 04 its name, is part of which city in Germany's Ruhr region?

Gelsenkirchen got its thanks in 1928, when the club added the city's name to its own in return for local support for a new stadium.

After a stoppage-time Bayern Munich goal cost Schalke 04 the 2001 title, German media named the team Champion of what?

Hearts was the consolation: fans were already celebrating a first title since 1958 when an indirect free kick deep in added time rescued Bayern.

Which Schalke 04 goalkeeper scored a last-minute equaliser against Borussia Dortmund in December 1997?

Jens Lehmann had saved a penalty in that spring's UEFA Cup final shoot-out, and within two years he was keeping goal for Dortmund instead.

Which Croatian midfielder left Schalke 04 for Sevilla in 2011 and later won the Champions League with Barcelona?

Ivan Rakitić had cost €5 million from Basel in 2007, and he went on to score the opening goal of the 2015 Champions League final.

Which Cameroon defender left Schalke 04 on a free transfer in 2016 and won the Champions League with Liverpool?

Joël Matip had been with the club since 2000 and marked his Bundesliga debut by scoring the equaliser against Bayern Munich.

Schalke 04's squad, only twelfth in the Bundesliga that season, earned which nickname by winning the 1997 UEFA Cup?

Euro Fighters ended a 25-year wait for a trophy, the club's first honour since the German Cup of 1972.

Which Belgian midfielder scored for Schalke 04 in the 1997 UEFA Cup final and later coached Belgium's national team?

Marc Wilmots also struck the decisive penalty in the shoot-out, and Schalke fans affectionately nicknamed him the War Pig.

Which teenager scored a hat-trick for Schalke 04 in a 6–6 cup semi-final against Bayern Munich in 1984?

Olaf Thon later moved to Bayern, won the 1990 World Cup, then came back to play sweeper in the 1997 UEFA Cup triumph.

Which 17-year-old opened the scoring for Schalke 04 in the 2011 German Cup final against Duisburg?

Julian Draxler volleyed in from outside the area, the first of five unanswered goals, months after becoming the club's youngest Bundesliga player.

Which Schalke 04 captain played every minute of Germany's victorious 2014 World Cup campaign in Brazil?

Benedikt Höwedes did it at left back, and came close to scoring in the final when his header struck the post just before half-time.

Which coach led Schalke 04 to a 2011 Champions League semi-final, then quit that September citing exhaustion?

Ralf Rangnick had been in the job only weeks when his side won 5–2 away to the reigning European champions in the quarter-final.

Schalke 04 led the 2006–07 Bundesliga for three months before a late derby defeat let which club take the title?

VfB Stuttgart finished two points clear after Schalke lost 2–0 at Dortmund on the penultimate matchday and gave up top spot.

Which Brazilian defender headed a last-minute equaliser as Schalke 04 came from 4–0 down to draw at Dortmund in 2017?

Naldo's header completed the recovery after Dortmund had scored all four of their goals inside the first 25 minutes.

Which winter sport has staged a team challenge race inside Schalke 04's football stadium since 2002?

Biathlon moved in after financial trouble ended a similar post-Christmas race in the Bavarian resort of Ruhpolding.

Schalke 04's first Champions League semi-final, in 2011, ended with two defeats to which English club?

Manchester United won 2–0 in Germany, the hosts' first home defeat of that European campaign, then 4–1 at Old Trafford.

Which ground, built for the 1974 World Cup, was Schalke 04's home from 1973 until a new arena opened in 2001?

Parkstadion also saw Yugoslavia beat Zaire 9–0 at that World Cup, and it staged the first leg of the 1997 UEFA Cup final.

Which ground did Schalke 04 open in 1928 and once pack with 70,000 fans for a friendly against Fortuna Düsseldorf?

Glückauf-Kampfbahn was designed for about 35,000, half that 1931 crowd, and in 2020 became home to the club's revived women's team.

Which Schalke 04 forward, brother-in-law of team-mate Fritz Szepan, scored the winning goal in the 1934 German final?

Ernst Kuzorra is said to have played his first match for the club at 14 in his confirmation shoes, after being called over from the touchline.

Schalke 04 players were banned after the 1971 Bundesliga scandal for taking money to lose a match to which club?

Arminia Bielefeld paid for the 1–0 win; the players swore an oath that they were innocent, and when it proved false rivals dubbed the club FC Perjury.

In January 2021 Schalke 04 finally won, one game short of a 31-match winless record set by which capital-city club?

Tasmania Berlin set the mark in 1965–66; Schalke's own drought lasted almost a year before a win over Hoffenheim ended it at 30 matches.

Schalke 04 supporters share German football's oldest fan friendship with followers of which Bavarian club?

1. FC Nürnberg and Schalke play both official club songs before they meet, even though the pair contested two championship finals in the 1930s.

Which 1997 UEFA Cup winner returned as Schalke 04's caretaker coach in 2022 and won promotion to the Bundesliga?

Mike Büskens won eight of his nine matches in charge to take the second-division title, then stepped back to be assistant coach again.

Clemens Tönnies, chairman of Schalke 04's supervisory board from 2001 to 2020, made his fortune in which industry?

Meat processing made him a billionaire, and about 1,000 fans formed a human chain around the stadium in June 2020 to demand that he step down.

German football authorities banned Schalke 04's first team for months in 1930 after the club broke which rule?

The amateur wage limit was breached by inflated expenses for away games, and fourteen players were declared professionals and suspended.

Before adopting royal blue and white in 1924, Schalke 04's earliest teams wore shirts in which two colours?

Red and yellow gave way to the blue behind the club's other nickname, Die Königsblauen, which means the Royal Blues.

Which Ghana-born Schalke 04 forward became the first African-born black player to appear for Germany's national team?

Gerald Asamoah won that first cap against Slovakia in 2001 and went on to play 381 games in eleven years with the club.