On matchday, even for friendlies, Gelsenkirchen pauses as locals turn their attention to Schalke's Veltins-Arena. In the team's first game back in the Bundesliga for three years, 6,000 away fans stayed after the final whistle despite a 3-0 defeat at Augsburg.

"It's a kind of religious feeling that people have towards Schalke," said Professor Frank Eckardt. "You can take everything from us, but you will never take Schalke from us." When Schalke fell to Bundesliga 2 for the first time in 21 years and insolvency looked possible, the only guarantee was the fans would remain.

After a false dawn in 2022, they were relegated again and stayed in the second tier for three seasons. German football expert Mark Lovell said: "They've been living beyond their means for many seasons." New figures were brought in, including former Plymouth Argyle manager Miron Muslic, who helped build promotion. Robin Haack said: "He is the hero because his way of coaching is so powerful."

Behind the scenes, Frank Baumann joined in June 2025. Andreas Ernst said: "Frank Baumann did everything out of nothing." Lovell added: "At Schalke right now there's some very intelligent football people behind the scenes."