At the end of the 2013–14 season, the club finished in third place in the Bundesliga table to qualify for their third-straight UEFA Champions League appearance, a feat Schalke had never before achieved. It opened on 13 August 2001, as the new home ground for Bundesliga. [45] Around 30% of the members were not from North Rhine-Westphalia. Jörg Seven Eick, Thomas Spiegel, Gerd Voss (Eds. [17] Assistant coach Seppo Eichkorn coached the team as interim manager until the appointment of Huub Stevens on 27 September 2011. Supported by a 11,400-tonne (11,200-long-ton; 12,600-short-ton) substructure, the playing field can be moved in and out of the stadium within four hours. The club earned their first honours since the DFB-Pokal win of 1972 with a victory in the final of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup over Inter Milan on penalties. With the re-organisation of German football in 1933 under Nazi Germany, Schalke found themselves in the Gauliga Westfalen, 1 of 16 top-flight divisions established to replace the innumerable regional and local leagues, all claiming top status. In 1912, after years of failed attempts to join the official league, they merged with the gymnastic club Schalker Turnverein 1877 in order to facilitate their entry. On 7 October 2014, after a 1–2 defeat to 1899 Hoffenheim and after amassing just eight points from seven matches, Keller was sacked and succeeded by Roberto Di Matteo.

These catering areas are connected to a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) long beer-line, supplying them with roughly 52,000 litres (11,000 imp gal; 14,000 US gal) of beer per match day. Stevens' contract was to run until 30 June 2013.[18]. Within this period, they scored 924 goals and conceded just 145. Later on, they played against the reigning champion Real Madrid again in the round of 16, where they lost the first leg at home 0–2, but they won 4–3 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Jahrhundert, Berlin: Ernst & Sohn, Ausg. [63], The handball department of FC Schalke 04 was founded in 1926. Plans to construct a new stadium emerged in the late 1990s, as fans and managers sought to move out of the outdated Parkstadion, and create a thoroughly modern multifunctional arena. After 8–0[32] and 4–0[33] thrashings away at the hands of Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig and a 1–3[34] loss at home against Werder Bremen, Schalke was last in the league table after three games, with one goal scored and fifteen conceded. [45] This high growth in Schalke 04 membership is also promoted by promotions of Schalke 04, as from 2013 to further "advertise Schalke 04 brand". From 1935 to 1939, they did not lose a single league match. On 16 March 2011, Magath was sacked and replaced with Ralf Rangnick, who previously, between 2004 and 2005, had a brief spell being in charge of the team. In the year 2000, the supporters voted for Schalker Jahrhundertelf, the "Team of the Century":[42].

The arena is frequently used as a venue to host concerts.

The grass playing surface can grow under normal outside conditions without suffering from a lack of circulation and light as in other arenas. These allow for a league capacity of 62,271 spectators (standing and seated) and an international capacity of 54,740. Schalke lost 5–0, looks like we won't be in the final this year.". [47], Schalke 04 Fan Club Association (SFCV) is an umbrella organization, according to their own statement, has an estimated 1,500 fan clubs.

However, because FIFA controls all sponsorship associated with its tournaments (including that of competition venues), the arena was called FIFA World Cup Stadium Gelsenkirchen (German: FIFA WM-Stadion Gelsenkirchen; [ˈfiːfa ˈvɛltmaɪ̯stɐʃaftˌʃtaːdi̯ɔn ɡɛlzn̩ˈkɪʁçn̩]) during the World Cup. [28] Despite this losing streak, Wagner remained as manager,[29] with Clemens Tönnies [de] stepping down from his role as the chairman of Schalke's supervisory board after 19 years in service instead. As a result, several Schalke players were banned for life, including three – Klaus Fischer, "Stan" Libuda and Klaus Fichtel – who regularly played for the West Germany national team at the time. Taille de l'effectif: It hosted the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final and five matches at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, including a quarter-final. Gerald Asamoah, longtime Schalke player with over 250 matches in over 11 years, Schalke players celebrate winning the DFB-Pokal in 2002. It has a capacity of 62,271 (standing and seated) for league matches and 54,740 (seated only) for international matches. [31], Schalke started with significant difficulties into the 2020–21 season. Despite having legendary status among Schalke supporters, Stevens' return to Schalke was met with some scepticism as fans feared that Stevens, who coached Schalke to the 1997 UEFA Cup win with a rigidly defensive system, could abandon Rangnick's system of attacking play in favour of returning to his 1997 defensive antics. The most prominent Schalke addition was the arrival of Kevin-Prince Boateng from Milan. Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (German: [ɛf tseː ˈʃalkə nʊl fiːɐ̯]), Schalke, Schalke 04, or abbreviated as S04 (German: [ˈɛs nʊl fiːɐ̯]), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Unfortunately, two mine shafts of the "Consolidation" and "Hugo" coal-mines run directly beneath this field at a depth of 800 m. These shafts (in use until 2000) would have caused unwanted shifts and tensions that could have compromised the structural integrity of the stadium.