FC Schalke 04

The full name of this club is Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V. and is nicknamed Die Königsblauen and Die Knappen. The club colours are blue and white. The home stadium is the Arena AufSchalke, currently known as the Ventils-Arena for sponsorship reasons. It is a modern arena opened in 2001 and has a capacity of 62,271 seats for league matches.

The club's main rivalry is with its neighbour in the Ruhr area, Borussia Dortmund. The clubs are only 30 kilometres apart and fans of both clubs often meet each other in their daily lives. The mutual matches are called Revierderby and for many fans, success in this derby is more important than the league performance itself.

Milestones and club achievements

The club is based in the city of Gelsenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia and was founded in 1904 under the former name of Westfalia Schalke. In addition to the football club, Schalke also has other clubs in other sports such as athletics and basketball.

The team is a successful club in the top competition, but not in the Bundesliga. In fact, most of its seven titles date back to the first half of the 20th century, the last one, which was the only one to swing into the second half, was in 1958. It was a golden era for the club, but one that has yet to be repeated. In the 2017/18 season, however, the club came second behind the dominant Bayern Munich.

In cups, Schalke have won the DFB-Pokal 5 times, most recently in the 2010/11 season. It also has a DFL-Supercup to its credit from 2005. On European soil, there is one UEFA Europa League win from the 1996/97 season, as well as two Intertoto Cups from 2003 and 2004.