This is because the district of Schalke lies within Gelsenkirchen , a post-war pairing of Gelsenkirchen-Altstadt, rebuilt as a compact and pedestrianised commercial centre, and the residential green-belt suburb of Buer. These communities — also including Duisburg, Essen and Bochum — are interlinked by a regional train and S-Bahn network.
Home to Schalke 04, it was opened in to replace the adjoining Parkstadion, now used for training and reserve matches. A capacity 61, crowd pack into this modern, multifunctional arena for every home match. This impressive attendance figure rarely wavers, even after Schalke dropped back into in the 2.
Bundesliga in With the club in dire financial straits — despite , members — the situation is paradoxical. This is the part of Gelsenkirchen known as Schalke, north of the historic Altstadt, developed by influential industrialist Friedrich Grillo in the mids.
It was incorporated into Gelsenkirchen proper the year before these sons of toil convened. Their aim was very simple: to form a football team to play and beat Spiel und Sport Schalke 96 , established by the sons of mine owners and bureaucrats in The lads named their team Westfalia , after the region.
The winners, the forerunners of I. These, therefore, were very decent footballers the boys were looking to spar with. TC Gelsenkirchen, meanwhile, operated as the football department of a gymnastics club formed, as so many in Germany, in the later s. This separated the amateur gymnasts of pure sporting ambition from the footballers receiving money in small brown envelopes.
