On the sidelines of the Champions League game between Shakhtar Donetsk and Atalanta Bergamo, there was rioting at Schalke – apparently triggered by organized fans of FC Schalke 04.
The last time Schalke sniffed Champions League air was in 2018/19 – and this year again. S04 has nothing to do with it, as is well known, the miners are in the 2nd division, but Shakhtar Donetsk is currently playing its home games in the Veltins Arena because of the war in Ukraine – and is paying Schalke around two million euros for four games.
So on Wednesday, five and a half years after the last Champions League game at Schalke, Shakhtar ensured that the Champions League anthem was played again. The Ukrainians lost their game against Atalanta Bergamo 3-0, but Schalke fans ultimately made negative headlines. As the police announced, on Wednesday evening in Gelsenkirchen, fans of FC Schalke 04 caused a riot.
On parking lots at the arena, “30 to 40 people from the organized fan scene” of the second division club attacked supporters of the Italian club – a attacked Bergamo fan was slightly injured. As the police also announced, four Schalke fans were arrested by the security authorities and criminal charges were filed on suspicion of assault and breach of the peace. The investigations are ongoing.
Schalke condemns incidents
“FC Schalke 04 condemns violence at any place and at any time,” the second division club condemned the incidents and emphasized that it wanted to “support the investigation in dialogue with all parties”. Gelsenkirchen’s police president Tim Frommeyer, however, found much harsher words, strongly condemning the events: “Such behavior is not only out of the question, it is anti-social,” he was quoted in a press release: “What really concerns me is the fact that the fans of FC Schalke 04 were only looking for violence and were waiting for a situation to attack peaceful fans of Atalanta Bergamo.”
According to Frommeyer, the events could have far-reaching consequences. One “possible consequence” would be for UEFA to recommend “that no more away games be played by foreign clubs at Schalke in the future,” especially since this was not the first incident of its kind in Gelsenkirchen. Just over four weeks ago, there were serious riots after Schalke’s friendly game against NAC Breda (2-1). At that time, 200 Schalke fans and 100 Dutch fans from Breda were involved in the clashes.