Park Stadium

The Park Stadium was Schalke's home ground from 1972 to 2001. Originally holding over 70,000, it had a capacity of 62,004 (55,877 for European and international matches) following its final conversion in the summer of 1998. This was made up of 44,962 seats (49,737 for European and international matches) and 17,042 standing places (5,603).

It is situated in the 'Schalke Field' between the Gelsenkirchen suburbs of Erle, Buer and Schalke and in the immediate vicinity of the Arena auf Schalke, the training pitches and the club offices.

The idea of building a stadium on the site was first raised at the beginning of the 1960s. Yet it took Gelsenkirchen City Council until 1967 to resolve to translate the idea into action, a decision that was doubtless made easier by the prospect of generous subsidies from the state and federal governments in anticipation of the 1974 World Cup. The ground breaking ceremony eventually took place on 29 August 1969 and the stadium was officially opened on 4 August 1973 with a friendly against the Dutch side Feyenoord.

Thereafter the stadium played host to a variety of events in addition to Schalke's home matches, including the 1974 World Cup and the 1988 European Championship, the German athletic championships, numerous rock concerts, a visit by the Pope, and the national meeting of the Evangelical church. But by the 1990s it had become increasingly clear that despite its relatively young age it no longer fulfilled the standards expected of an international football stadium. It had too few covered places, did not offer the required level of comfort and the large distance from the stands to the pitch was no longer contemporary. So it came as no surprise when building work on the new Arena AufSchalke began in November 1998, the stadium that has been Schalke's home ground since August 2001.

Yet although Schalke played in the Park Stadium for 28 years, the Glückaufkampfbahn is much more rooted in Schalke's history.