Schalke 04 is one of the biggest clubs in Germany. They have the second largest following after Bayern Munich. Although they have never won the Bundesliga, they made it to the Champions League final in 1997, but lost to Inter from Italy. They have also won the DFB Pokal five times, most recently in the 2010-2011 season. Last season Schalke managed to get promoted back to the Bundesliga after becoming 2. Bundesliga champions.
But how did Schalke go from being DFB-Pokal winners in 2010-2011 and second place in the 2017-2018 season to being relegated to the second division? In this post, I will briefly discuss the history of Schalke 04. Then we will analyse the 2020-2021 season (the season in which Schalke was relegated) using data. And finally, we will look at Schalke 04's 2.Bundesliga season.
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History of the Royal Blues
FC Schalke was founded in 1904 by a group of high school students, but did not become the Koenigsblauen until 1924, when they adopted the blue and white colours for their home jerseys before wearing the red and yellow instead. In 1929, Schalke won their first West German championship, but were banned from playing football for six months for exceeding the wage cap. But Schalke was not affected by this ban. Schalke continued its incredible form and did not lose a single game from 1935 to 1939. After World War II II Schalke went downhill, but in the mid-1950s the Koenigsblauen got back on their feet. They won the German championship in 1958, just two years before the start of the Bundesliga.
Schalke fans in 1941
The Post-Bundesliga Era
After the start of the Bundesliga era, Schalke struggled and ended up at the bottom of the table several times. Schalke began to improve and finished second to Bayern in the 1971-1972 season, winning its second DFB against FC Kaiserslautern. However, Schalke could not celebrate for long, as some of the Koenigsblauen's players and officials were involved in a Bundesliga scandal in 1971. Schalke's team deliberately lost a game against Armenia Biefield at the time after their players accepted bribes to allow Armenia Biefield to be promoted. Three players were banned for life by Schalke 04. They were Klaus Fischer, who scored the last goal in the DFB Poka; victory, "Stan" Libuda and Klaus Fichtel. The sentences were reduced from life to two years for some players, but this had a negative effect on Schalke 04. Schalke 04 managed to finish second behind Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1976-77. They were then relegated twice in 1983 and 1988, but managed to get back up in 1991 and stayed until the 2021 season. Schalke came very close to winning its first Bundesliga title, but they were prevented by Bayern from winning the 2001-2002 Bundesliga title by a late goal in extra time.
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Bayern winning the league last minute
The Search for European Glory
Schalke 04 won the UEFA Cup, or Europa League, on penalties against Inter under Dutch coach Huub Stevens, who used very defensive tactics to ensure that the team did not concede goals but scored them. After that, Schalke failed to win another European trophy. The closest they came to the semifinals was after knocking out Inter and Valencia before being knocked out by Manchester United. In the 2010-2011 season, Raul and Klaas Jan Huntelaar played up front, Manuel Neuer in goal, Joel Matip in defense, and Ivan Raktic and Jefferson Farfan in midfield. Schalke had players like Leon Goreztka, Julian Draxler and Max Meyer, who came from the U19. Players who have a bright future and could help the club improve. However, things did not go as planned. In 2014, Schalke was eliminated by Real Madrid in the round of 16. In the following two seasons, they were eliminated in the Europa League against Ajax and Shaktar Donetsk. Domenico Tedesco, the current coach of RB Leipzig, was hired for the Schalke job and managed to finish the 2017-2018 season in second place behind Bayern Munich and return to the Champions League. After a 2: 10 defeat against ManCity (about whose new signing Kalvin Phillips I wrote an article, which you can read at this link) Tedesco is now out of the window.
Schalke 04 team that faced Manchester United in semi-finals of the champion league
The Downfall of FC Schalke 04
David Wagner, who is currently the coach of BSC Young Boys, took charge of the club, which then went winless for 16 games, but that was just the beginning for the Royal Blues. Clement Tonnies stepped down from his role as Schalke's CEO. Tonnies resigned because Schalke fans decided to protest after the COVID -19 outbreak at one of the factories owned by Tonnies. The outbreak infected 1500 people in June 2020. Schalke started the season with 15 goals conceded in 3 games and only 1 goal, losing away to Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig with 0: 8 and 0:4 respectively. Then there was a 1:3 home defeat against Werder Bermen, which was the nail in the coffin for David Wagner. 4 coaches later and after 30 winless games, which corresponded to a losing streak of 358 days, Schalke was relegated to the second division. This led to riots by the fans and Schalke fans attacked their players.
Schalke's 04 20-21 season by the numbers
Schalke's season was also the season to forget in terms of numbers. For they have both undercut the expected goals and conceded more goals than they should. Expected goals after a shot are preferred to the likelihood of a goalkeeper saving the ball before it ends up in the net. Schalke conceded 9 more goals and exceeded the xG value by 3 goals.
They also had the lowest points per game of any club in the top 5 leagues. The points per game was 0.47 per game. This means that Schalke gets one point every two games. Schalke managed to win only three out of 34 games in the Bundesliga. In 34 games, they conceded 86 goals and scored 25 goals. This makes them the second worst team in the top 5 leagues and they have scored only 5 goals more than Sheffield United, who scored 20 goals. They also have the second worst defence, surpassed only by Crotone, who conceded 96 goals and scored 45.
Bubble chart for goals conceded per match(Size of bubble) and Points per match (color) for clubs in the Bundesliga + Sheffield United and Crotone for context
A quick bounce-back
Schalke came back quickly, but it was not easy. Schalke got off to a bad start, losing 3-1 to Hamburg SV, a game we would normally see in the first division. Against Holstein Kiel and Erzgebrige Aue there was one win and one draw each. Then they lost 1: 4 against Jahn R'burg. On Matchday 26, Schalke was in 6th place with 44 points, just four points off the top. After a 3:4 defeat against Hana Rostock, Grammozis was dismissed and Mike Buskens took his place. Buskens had previously managed Schalke as interim manager in 2008 before being replaced by Fred Rutten. But Fred Rutten was fired and Buskens was hired and then replaced by Felix Magath. His record: 9 wins, 2 draws and four defeats. He then coached Greuther Fuerth and won the second Bundesliga with them. After a move to Fortuna Duesseldorf and then Rapid Vienna, Buskens returned to Schalke as an assistant coach before taking over the role of coach after Grammozis was fired. With Buskens, Schalke started a winning streak, and 4 games after Grammozis was fired, Schalke is now at the top of the table. Things were very close, but the difference between the top and 4th place in the league was only two points.
Schalke needed to keep winning, but lost 4-1 to Werder Bremen, another promoted first division team, on Matchday 31. But they won against Sandhausen, while Bremen lost to Holstein Kiel, which put Schalke on top. A crazy comeback win against St. Pauli on matchday 33 meant that promotion was assured for the Koenigsblauen. Another win against Nuremberg crowned Schalke the 2.Bundesliga champions.
Simon Terodde, who scored a brace in the game against St. Pauli, scored a total of 30 goals in 34 games, breaking the record for the top scorer in the 2.Bundesliga, which he had set three seasons earlier. Terodde was previously top scorer three times in the second division with Freibug, Stuttgart and Cologne. He scored 25, 25 and 29 goals and won the league with each team.
Simon Terodde scoring record
Conclusion
Schalke is back after too many manager dismissals, president resignations and scandals. Schalke has already strengthened its squad with the signing of player Rodrigo Zalzar and signed Maya Yoshida on a free transfer from Sampdoria and Alex Kral on loan from Spartak Moscow. Schalke will try not to lose touch with the top before returning to European competitions.
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