On matchday, even for friendlies, Gelsenkirchen pauses as locals turn their attention to Schalke’s Veltins-Arena.

Everywhere you look, swathes of fans in blue and white are arriving by tram, on foot or by car.

In the team’s first game back in the Bundesliga for three years, 6,000 away fans stayed after the final whistle to support the players despite a 3-0 defeat at Augsburg.

“It’s a kind of religious feeling that people have towards Schalke,” said Professor Frank Eckardt, who grew up in the Schalke-Nord area.

“It feels like people think, ‘OK, we don’t have anything else, but we have Schalke. It’s our club.’

“If you go to graveyards, for example, you will find that people have Schalke on their graves in one way or the other. So it is really something deep.

“You can take everything from us, but you will never take Schalke from us. That’s what they really believe.”

When Schalke fell to Bundesliga 2 for the first time in 21 years and insolvency looked a genuine possibility – because of massive debts brought on by rash spending, failure to qualify for Europe and Covid-19 – the only guarantee was the fans would remain.

Despite the threat against the club’s existence, Schalke bounced back to the top flight straight away in 2022.

But that was a false dawn.

A year later they were in the second tier again, and that is where they would stay for the next three seasons, with the first two campaigns showing little hope for the future.

A 10th-placed finish was followed by an even more dismal 14th – only two places above a relegation play-off spot.

German football expert Mark Lovell said: “They suffered with the burden of expectation. They were expected to basically walk the league every season despite having huge financial problems.

“There’s sympathy for Schalke, but they’ve been their own worst enemies by chasing success and extending themselves too far.

“They’ve been living beyond their means for many seasons. When you do suffer relegation something has to give, and they haven’t been able to buy their way out.

“They had to live more to their needs and get rid of their best players, and then sort of start again with a real skeleton type operation.”

After finishing 14th, new figures were brought in – including former Plymouth Argyle manager Miron Muslic – who helped build Schalke’s promotion to the Bundesliga last year.

Robin Haack, who covers Schalke for local newspaper WAV, said: “He is the face of the Schalke promotion.

“He is the hero because his way of coaching is so powerful. He gave the people the belief back.

“Nobody knew him before. Some Austrian who was relegated to the third league in England – he must be bad.

“But he proved all the haters wrong in an incredible way. Fans love him like I’ve never experienced a coach has been loved before.”

Muslic operates with a high-press style and has created a team that represent Gelsenkirchen’s working-class nature with committment and effort.

“Muslic was the perfect match,” said Haack.

If Muslic was the cover star, working behind the scenes was former director of football at Werder Bremen and Germany international Frank Baumann, who joined Schalke in June 2025.

Andreas Ernst, who also reports for WAV, said: “He had the whole club, but it lay on the ground.

“They said do whatever you want to do. But with no money. We have a bad team. But come here – a very great club.

“Frank Baumann did everything out of nothing.”

Lovell said: “At Schalke right now there’s some very intelligent football people behind the scenes.

“Frank Baumann’s a real top football man, and just a decent person, which Schalke didn’t have.”

Baumann’s most eye-catching signing was former Manchester City forward Edin Dzeko, who joined in January after a torrid spell in Italy with Fiorentina.

He has scored eight goals in 13 games, including two this season in Schalke’s DFB Pokal cup win.

Muslic told BBC’s Euro Leagues podcast: “I grew up in Austria, but I’m from Bosnia. And Edin Dzeko for us is Gary Lineker. He’s our Johan Cruyff. He’s our Franz Beckenbauer. He’s just an idol.

“He’s 40 years old, and he’s still able to perform. That means he was super professional the last 25 years.

“That’s why he’s a role model and that’s why he will also have his impact and he will leave also his fingerprints in this upcoming Bundesliga season.”

With his experience at top-flight clubs across Europe, Dzeko’s will also offer something invaluable to Muslic’s team.

Schalke defender Christian Fuchs told BBC’s More Than The Score podcast: “Where it’s a player like this… there’s so much respect towards him from his team-mates.

“It’s so important to build a club culture, to hold players accountable, to keep them all in check.

“Even if it’s a small piece in the bigger puzzle, there is so much value that you need to give to that.

“Dzeko plays an important part in growing stability in the club.”

Dzeko had been established with every club he has played for, but for others they have had to rebuild their careers with Schalke.

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius has questioned multiple times whether to end his career, but has managed to regain a starting spot and become a key figure in Muslic’s team.

Muslic said: “He is the face of this new Schalke, the face of this new resilience, this new mindset.

“After tough years behind him, he found a new home. He found new trust – like so many other players from Schalke who had some rough moments in their careers.

“They found a safe heaven. And then it was just about, let’s do this together and let’s start from scratch and let’s do it in our way.”

Schalke will need to showcase this new mentality against champions Bayern Munich in their first home game of the season on Saturday, after the Augsburg defeat.

This match will not define Schalke’s season. Neither will the fierce rivalry with Borussia Dortmund. Instead, it will be shaped by every game at the Veltins-Arena, which will be packed with 62,000 passionate fans.

Fuchs said: “I know Dortmund. They don’t admit it, but I’m sure they miss Schalke.

“Schalke is just a club that in my eyes belong into the Bundesliga and I hope… we’ll see them there for a very long time.”

Many Schalke fans do not have high expectations this season, with some saying they simply need to avoid relegation.

Muslic said: “We know the glory of the past. But we know also the present and the future.

“We are very humble but ambitious. Right now it’s all about playing another year in the Bundesliga.”