Germany’s fallen giants are kept alive by fans’ devotion

A sold-out stadium will see Schalke 04 host Hamburger SV today in the Bundesliga 2 a remarkable, refreshing division

- WILL CASTLE

“A thousand friends who stand together, stand together/ So that FC Schalke will be there forever.”

The final lines of Schalke 04’s official club anthem, “Blau und Weiss, Wie Lieb’ Ich Dich” (Blue and white, how I love thee), feel rather pertinent in light of recent seasons. It’ll be heard and sung today as the Royal Blues do battle with once-titans of Europe Hamburger SV – likely in front of a sold-out crowd – but will come under far more humbling circumstances than it would have maybe a decade ago.

Schalke were tussling with the continent’s elite then. Gelsenkirchen is familiar with the jeopardy a Champions League night can bring, having hosted competition fixtures in eight of the past 20 seasons.

In 2011, they managed to go as far as the semi-finals, with Ralf Rangnick’s star-studded team – boasting the likes of Raul, Manuel Neuer and bona fide club icon Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – only missing out on a final trip to Wembley at the hands of Manchester United.

Jeopardy is still commonplace on matchdays at the VeltinsArena, but the prospects that come with it are far more morbid. Once a staple of German football’s upper echelons, Schalke are now dangling by a thread in the country’s second division and have already begun to flirt with relegation to the third. The club are devoid of inspiration, both on the pitch and behind the scenes.

Schalke are not alone in obscurity, however. They are a fallen giant in a sea of fallen giants that is the German second tier.