The years of plenty have passed in Germany’s most populated area, the Ruhrpott. FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly FC Schalke 04, has long been one of the most popular football teams in Germany, even though major successes have been rare since the club’s heyday in the 1930s and early 1940s. The football team is the biggest part of a larger sports club with more than 78,401 members making it the second largest sports club in Germany.

When it comes down to the ‘royal blues’ and their fanbase a new area is yet to begin with the signing of Felix Magath, the man who led VfL Wolfsburg to the top of the table in the Bundesliga 2008/09 season, who will become Head Coach and General Manager of the ‘Royal Blues’.

Magath insisted that Schalke won’t spent money for new players this summer transfer period and will instead focuse on the developement of existing players and talents of the second squad. A big role in Magath’s team is the 21-year-old playmaker Ivan Rakitić. The Croatian with Swiss roots made his debute for the Croatian national team in 2007 and was on the list of many European clubs like Juventus or AS Roma. Rakitić was interviewed but ‘laola1.at’, the full version in German (here) and a google translation can be found here.

Snippet

Q. Are you statisfied with your performance against Rapid Vienna and was it a deserved win?’
A. Well, it was okay but clearly visible that Rapid is in an advanced stage of the pre season preparation, the Austrian league will kick-off in just about a week. We are now in the middle of our preparations and there is still a lot of work to do which was clearly visible in some situations of the game. But we can be statisfied – we’ve played a good game and will go home with a good feeling.

-Image taken from schalke04.de

Other related headlines

1. New Schalke coach Maggath: Rakitić is “too inconstant”
2. Official statement; Rakitić: “Thank god nothing’s broken”
3. Ivan Rakitić back in training