Schalke are back at the VELTINS-Arena in the 2. Bundesliga after just one season out of the division with the club set to welcome 1. FC Kaiserslautern following on from a terrible result on the opening day on the road.
The past few years have been a disaster for Schalke and this period will go down as arguably the worst in the club’s history.
Full focus on the weekend! 💯#S04 pic.twitter.com/kK6U5Jn0f0— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) August 2, 2023
Full focus on the weekend! 💯#S04 pic.twitter.com/kK6U5Jn0f0
Schalke dropped down to 2. Bundesliga and eventually made it back into the top flight before finishing in the bottom two and dropping straight back into the second tier.
Schalke would secure only seven wins across the 34 games last season and go on to lose 17 times as well.
In the end, the club finished three points from safety and scored the fewest goals in the division with 35.
Worse yet, only Bochum let in more goals with their 72 compared to the 71 from Schalke.
The club did win the 2. Bundesliga in their promotional campaign last time out in the division, but they got off to a dreadful start when they lost 5-3 to Hamburger last time out.
Schalke would take a 2-0 lead during the game after a goal from Assan Ouedraogo and Thomas Ouwejan.
Simon Terodde would also bag for Schalke, but Hamburger would go on to score a goal in the 91st minute of the game before another goal in the 99th-minute to steal all three points.
Schalke did also struggle at times in preseason, although they left the summer campaign with a 5-0 win over Gornik Zabrze and a 3-0 victory over Spelle-Venhaus.
However, a loss to Copenhagen and draws with Bocholt and FC Twente meant a relatively underwhelming few games.
Kaiserslautern are back in 2. Bundesliga after promotion from 3. Liga that saw the club finish third and earn a spot in the second tier as a result.
Kaiserslautern would lose nine times and draw nine other games too, meaning the club finished the season with 18 victories on the board too.
The club would, however, leave 3. Liga with the best defensive record after letting in just 27 goals from 36 games, as this also brought in 13 clean sheets.
Dirk Schuster's side would lose their first game in 2. Bundesliga, however, after a defeat at home to St. Pauli. Ragnar Ache would score that day for the club but a late penalty saw them lose all three points.
Forebet predicts a win for Schalke and for the game to see over 2.5 goals.