OMG
Appropriated, abused, instrumentalised, bought – FC Schalke ...
Appropriated, abused, instrumentalised, bought – FC Schalke 04 in the currents of time.
Appropriated, abused, instrumentalised, bought – FC Schalke 04 in the currents of time. The popularity of the workers’ club from Gelsenkirchen was from early on a valuable but endangered asset. In the Nazi era – and again in 2001 – Schalke were caught in the machinery of politics, propaganda and absurd football officialdom.
Schalke 04 and the Nazis: dangerous game. Schalke’s
Schalke 04 and the Nazis: dangerous game.
most successful years coincided with National Socialism. Between 1934 and 1942, the team reached at least the league or cup final every year and built a giant popularity that has still not vanished.
The successes of the team around Ernst Kuzorra and Fritz Szepan were ideologically exploited by the regime. Whether the players were simply instrumentalised or sometimes consciously allowed themselves to be used can no longer be fully clarified. But there is no doubt that their finals, fighting spirit and team ethos were pushed to the front in propaganda.
In October 1937, the title-winning team was received by Hitler at Reich Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten’s birthday celebration, with captain Szepan shaking his hand. Later in the war, the players still received leave from military service for matches, but after 1942 one could no longer speak of normal competition. Schalke instead travelled through occupied territories to play “troop support” games against military teams.
Several Schalke players also appeared in the propaganda-era film Das große Spiel.
Schalke and the Bundesliga scandal – dirty game.
In 1971 Schalke 04 became embroiled in the Bundesliga corruption scandal. The team deliberately lost 0–1 to Arminia Bielefeld on 3 April 1971 in exchange for bribes.
Numerous Schalke professionals, including internationals Klaus Fichtel, Klaus Fischer, Reinhard Libuda and Rolf Rüssmann, landed in court and received serious suspensions. Others involved included Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp, Herbert Lütkebohmert, Manfred Pohlschmidt, Hans Pirkner, Jürgen Sobieray, Dieter Burdenski, Klaus Senger, Jürgen Galbierz and Heinz van Haaren. As Klaus Fischer later explained, they had thrown the game largely as “a favour to Waldemar Slomiany”, who had moved from Schalke to Bielefeld.
What a lovely act of friendship. Whether the club leadership knew remains unproven, though heavily suspected. The court marathon lasted years, and Fischer would later admit: “My God, how stupid we were.
To lose a match for 2,300 marks each – you can’t be more idiotic than that. A win bonus back then was 2,000 marks.”
Champions League on 9/11: an unworthy match. On
Champions League on 9/11: an unworthy match.
11 September 2001, the day that changed the world, the terrorist attacks on the United States killed more than 3,000 people. In truth, football should have been unthinkable.
UEFA nevertheless insisted the Champions League matchday go ahead. Schalke had to play Panathinaikos at home and lost 2–0. The first Champions League game in the club’s history became a farce. In his autobiography, Huub Stevens recalled how the mood collapsed the moment the players understood what was unfolding on the TV screens.
Rudi Assauer immediately appealed to UEFA to postpone the match. UEFA refused.
Schalke on the big screen? Silly game. Germany
Schalke on the big screen?
and its football movies are not always Oscar material, and that includes Football Is Our Life, Tomy Wigand’s 2000 film about the life and suffering of “Hans Pollack”, played by Uwe Ochsenknecht, and his fellow Schalke fanatics.
Rudi Assauer, Huub Stevens, cult attendant Charly Neumann and players such as Yves Eigenrauch, Olaf Thon and Mike Büskens all tried their hand at acting. The result was, as one review put it, another proletarian comedy with dramatic tendencies.
The second funeral of Ernst Kuzorra: a pure
The second funeral of Ernst Kuzorra: a pure farce.
farce. Surely only possible on Schalke. On New Year’s Day 1990, royal blue mourned one of its greatest players.
Ernst Kuzorra had died at the age of 84. His burial took place on the Rosenhügel cemetery. Over 1,000 people said goodbye – or thought they did. Schalke president Günter Eichberg, having interrupted his Bahamas holiday, arrived three hours late and made only the wake.
Team attendant Charly Neumann therefore had the wreath-laying at Kuzorra’s grave repeated in a smaller circle. Bild’s headline the next day: “This only happens at Königsblau – Kuzorra buried twice!”
S04 — Financial Stability Score
Schalke ist das abschreckende Beispiel der Liga: Von CL-Halbfinale (2011) zu -104 Mio EK. Der Club zeigt was passiert wenn alle Minsky-Risiken gleichzeitig eintreten: Gehaltsexzesse, Transferfehler, Abstieg, COVID. Die Erholung dauert ein Jahrzehnt.
OMG — Update 2020–2026
The Tonnies scandal: at the “Day of Crafts” event in Paderborn in August 2019, Clemens Tonnies made racist remarks about Africans.
The Tonnies scandal: at the “Day of Crafts”
The Tonnies scandal: at the “Day of Crafts” event in Paderborn in August 2019, Clemens Tonnies made racist remarks about Africans.
event in Paderborn in August 2019, Clemens Tonnies made racist remarks about Africans. The outrage was enormous. Tonnies initially let his role rest for three months, but only finally resigned in June 2020.
Thirty matches without a win — the all-time
Thirty matches without a win — the all-time Bundesliga negative record.
Bundesliga negative record. Tasmania Berlin’s “record” from 1965/66 was blown to pieces. A club that had still played in the Champions League in 2019 set the greatest negative record in Bundesliga history.
Christian Gross arrived with a suitcase. Literally. At
Christian Gross arrived with a suitcase.
his unveiling as Schalke coach in December 2020, he held up a suitcase and declared: “In this suitcase are conviction, confidence and belief.” The suitcase remained full; the points remained empty.
After relegation in 2021, the situation escalated. Fans
After relegation in 2021, the situation escalated.
surrounded the team bus. Players were told to take off their shirts. Some did. Images of humiliation that went around the world.