How Schalke returned to the Bundesliga after their 'worst season ever'
Schalke goalkeeper Loris Karius celebrates with the side after sealing promotion to the top flight. (INA FASSBENDER) After three seasons in the second flight, Schalke's 1-0 home win over Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday returned the German giants to the Bundesliga. For those inside the club, the road to promotion is about making good on a series of mistakes and bringing Schalke back where they belong.
Seven-time German champions Schalke are among Europe's best supported teams. Only two clubs in Germany -- Bayern Munich and bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund -- have more than their 200,000 members. In 2021, Schalke were relegated for the first time in three decades.
Saddled with debt, a Covid-era relegation hit harder. After an immediate return to the top flight, they suffered the same fate again -- and this time did not bounce back so easily. CEO Matthias Tillmann, who joined the club in 2024, told AFP that Schalke being in the second division is a "mistake".
"We are not a second division club when it comes to fans, to infrastructure," he said. "Obviously, we are there now and there are reasons for that. "We've made mistakes on the sporting side, capital allocation...
The first relegation in 2021, the beginning of Covid, was very tough financially. "Then we immediately went down again, which is not good. " In 2022, the club took another financial hit with the termination of a lucrative sponsorship with Russian energy giant Gazprom after the Ukraine invasion.