In 1904, Schalke 04 was established as a professional football team. They are known as Die Knappen (The Miners) and participate in the German Bundesliga, winning seven national titles. Additionally, they have earned five German Cup championships and claimed the UEFA Cup in 1997. In the final match, they triumphed over Inter from Italy through penalty kicks, which marked the last instance of the competition being played in a two-legged format.

Schalke 04 play their home matches at Veltins-Arena, the stadium that has been the home of the team since 2001. The capacity of Veltins-Arena is 62,271. It is well known that Borussia Dortmund are Schalke’s main rivals and the Ruhy neighbours face each other in the Revierderby.

Klaus Fichtel (477), Norbert Nigbur (355), Rolf Russmann (304), Klaus Fischer (295), Olaf Thon (295), and Herbert Lutkebohmert (286) are the top players for die Knappen in terms of number of appearances. The home kit for Schalke is primarily blue in color.