Full name | Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V. |
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Nickname(s) | Die Knappen (The Knaves) Die Königsblauen (The Royal Blues) |
Founded | 1904 |
Ground | Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen |
Capacity | 61,482 |
Chairman | Josef Schnusenberg |
Manager | Huub Stevens |
League | 1. Bundesliga |
2009–10 | 1. Bundesliga, 2nd |
The Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly known as FC Schalke 04, is a successful and popular German football club.
It plays in Gelsenkirchen. With more than 80.313 members (15. Dezember 2009) at present it is the second largest Sportsclub of Germany and has departments for football, basketball, table tennis, handball and athletics. Since August 2001 the association plays its home plays in the Veltins arena (to 30 June 2005 Veltins Arena), one of the most modern stages of the world. In the coat of arms a white G is to be recognized, which stands for Gelsenkrichen.
There exists a great rivalry between Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund. The reason is the honorable competition of these clubs which live in neighborhood. Since the first match in 1925 there have been 135 matches. Schalke won 55 of them, Dortmund won 45 and 35 ended in a draw. In the 2009–10 Bundesliga season Schalke won both matches.