Bundesliga
Promoted as 2. Bundesliga champions — 70 pts
First home match
05.09 vs Bayern Munich
Stadium
Veltins-Arena — 62,271
Ruhr derby
Returns — at home in December
About the stadium
Veltins-Arena opened on 13 August 2001 and is one of the most sophisticated stadiums in the world. Capacity is 62,271 for league matches — the fourth-largest in Germany — of which 16,307 are standing places. For international matches, where UEFA bans standing, these places are converted to 8,776 seats and capacity drops to 54,740; that's exactly why there are two different figures. Two features make it unique: a retractable roof made of a fiberglass membrane suspended on 24 steel columns, and a sliding pitch — the entire grass surface, on a base weighing 11,400 tons, is pushed out of the stadium on hydraulic rails in a process taking three and a half to four hours. This way the grass gets natural sunlight and the arena is freed up for other events. Above the center of the pitch hangs a video cube with four 25-meter-tall screens. The enclosed roof traps the noise and creates extreme acoustics — 130 decibels were measured there for a Schalke goal. Attendance record: 77,803 spectators, on 7 May 2010, at the opening match of the World Ice Hockey Championship.
FAQ
How do you get a ticket for a Schalke 04 match?
Tickets for Schalke 04 matches at Veltins-Arena are sold almost exclusively to club members. It's very difficult, and it's worth understanding why. Schalke has more than 220,000 registered members — one of the highest numbers in the world — and the system is built around them. The club sells 40,000 season tickets and voluntarily capped that number in order to keep single-match ticket inventory for every match. But the single tickets are sold to members first, with a cap of up to four tickets per match and a seasonal cap of 17, and for marquee matches against Bayern and Dortmund — just two. In practice, as already happened last season, all inventory got snapped up in the members' phase and never reached general sale at all. For the 2026/27 season a new rule was also introduced: a member who uses fewer than 12 matches on their season ticket risks cancellation. The only legal channel for resale is the club's own ticket exchange, open until kick-off — and since 2023 the club has employed a law firm that fights the black market. TikTik gets tickets for Schalke matches without membership and without a queue.
How do you get to Veltins-Arena?
Veltins-Arena is reached by tram 302 from Gelsenkirchen's main train station — about 15 minutes. The stadium has its own tram stop called VELTINS-Arena, and there's no reason at all to arrive by car. From Gelsenkirchen's main train station: the tram stop is in the basement level of the train station itself, and line 302 runs directly to the stadium in about 15 minutes, with an increased frequency on matchdays. There's a step-free, accessible stop on the same line for people with mobility disabilities. And a tip worth money: the match ticket includes free travel across the entire VRR transport network, both ways — this is confirmed by two official sources, the club's and the stadium's. The gates open two hours before kick-off.
Is there parking at Veltins-Arena?
Yes, Veltins-Arena has about 14,000 parking spaces around the stadium. Rates are tiered: in lots B through E the cost is about five euros per car, and free entirely for anyone arriving more than two hours before kick-off — meaning anyone who arrives early saves money. In the multi-story car parks next to the stadium the rate is much higher, about thirty euros. Note a practical detail: the payment machines don't accept cash — only credit card or phone payment, so don't come with only banknotes. Parking can be booked in advance. There are also more than 600 bicycle parking spaces.
How do you get from Israel to a Schalke match?
For a Schalke match you arrive via Düsseldorf Airport — about an hour and a half to Gelsenkirchen. Gelsenkirchen sits in the heart of the Ruhr area, and two major airports serve it. From Düsseldorf, about 45 kilometers away, you take a train to Gelsenkirchen's main station and from there tram 302 — about an hour and a half in total. Roughly the same distance applies from Dortmund airport. Cologne-Bonn airport is further, about 100 kilometers. If you're also planning to visit Dortmund on the same trip — the two stadiums are less than an hour apart, and that's the best way to experience the Ruhr area.
Does an Israeli need a visa to fly to the match?
No. Israelis enter Schengen-area countries visa-free for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and all that's required is a valid passport. Worth knowing what's coming: the European Union is launching the ETIAS authorization system in the last quarter of 2026. Once it takes effect, an online authorization will be required in advance, at a cost of €7, valid for three years or until the passport expires — whichever comes first. As of today the system is not active and no action is required from you. Important warning: the EU warns that many sites impersonate the official site, use the EU logo and charge inflated fees or steal passport and credit card details. There is only one official site — europa.eu/etias — and any address not on the europa.eu domain is not official.
Where's the best place to sit at Veltins-Arena?
At Veltins-Arena the atmosphere is concentrated in the Nordkurve, the North Curve, a huge standing stand for home fans. The Nordkurve, the North Stand, is the heart — a huge standing stand reserved exclusively for home fans, and one of the biggest in Germany. That's where the organized groups responsible for the choreography, the flags and the singing stand, and it's where the 130-decibel reading came from. The east and west stands are seated along the sides and include the hospitality areas, and the south stand is seating for home fans. Away fans sit in the southeast corner — blocks V and W for standing and blocks 52 to 64 for seating — an allocation of about six thousand places, under German league regulations that require ten percent of capacity to be allocated to away fans. Note: in the away section you can only pay with the club's payment card, and there's no matchday box office.
What's special about Schalke 04's 2026/27 season?
The 2026/27 season is Schalke 04's return to the Bundesliga after 1,071 days. Schalke is a mining-region club. It was founded in Gelsenkirchen in the heart of the Ruhr, its nickname is Die Knappen — 'the miners' — and that working-class identity is exactly what creates the bond between the club and the city: more than 220,000 registered members, even after three years in the second division. No one left. This season is the return: Schalke won the 2. Bundesliga title with 70 points and secured promotion on 2 May 2026, after 1,071 days outside the Bundesliga. It was done by manager Miron Muslić, a Bosnian-born Austrian who took over in July 2025 and arrived from England's Plymouth Argyle — he took a team that had finished 14th and turned it into champions, the biggest improvement in the league. His contract was extended through 2028.
What's Schalke's big match in the 2026/27 season?
Schalke 04's big match is the Ruhr derby against Dortmund, at home in early December 2026. There are two, and they're both huge. The first comes right away: the first Bundesliga home match in three years is against Bayern Munich, at Veltins-Arena, Saturday 5 September 2026 at 18:30. You couldn't ask for a more dramatic comeback. The second is the Ruhr derby against Borussia Dortmund, back in the Bundesliga after three years — the last one was played on 11 March 2023 and ended 2-2. The home match at Veltins-Arena is on the weekend of 4-6 December 2026, and the away match at Signal Iduna Park is in mid-April 2027. This is one of the fiercest rivalries in Europe, and in the Ruhr area it's everything. Schalke open the league away against Augsburg on 30 August 2026.
