FC Schalke 04 2025/26 season preview: A fourth 2. Bundesliga campaign in five years for Royal Blues | OneFootball

Hamburg and Köln’s promotion to Bundesliga at least confirmed one thing for Schalke. Without any doubt, they’re now the biggest club in 2. Bundesliga. However, the fans would prefer clashes against the big boys in this difficult time for the club financially. For now, they’re at the bottom of the standings in alphabetical order, though.

Miron Muslić’s appointment starts a new era at the club, but there is no guarantee for how long that will stay since there is no coach who has been with the club for two preseasons in over a decade. The squad building still faces obstacles despite plans to build a team competing for a promotion.

How was their 2024/25?

A second season in 2. Bundesliga ended with another bottom-half finish. The spirit was high after the opening fixture of the season, however. A 5-1 win against Eintracht Braunschweig? In front of over 60,000 fans? A dream debut for Moussa Sylla? Kenan Karaman promising to be the new Simon Terodde? All ticked.

Not to the level of that night, but, all things considered, the two strikers had a decent campaign. They had a combined 29 league goals when the next name in the chart only registered 3. The Blues had to wait for their next home win until November, and they ended the season with four straight defeats.

Conceding five goals each at home to Darmstadt and Magdeburg were the lowest points of the season. The 14th-placed finish showed that Schalke have to go a long way before dreaming of a Bundesliga return.

The Coach

Muslić disappointed the Plymouth Argyle faithful as the club expected him to guide them back to the Championship. After replacing Wayne Rooney, Muslić had the modest club dreaming of avoiding relegation to League One for a bit.

Although that fight ended with relegation and he now moves into a new surrounding, the FA Cup win over Liverpool will surely stand tall in the history of the club. At Schalke, Muslić faced a different task as it’s one of the biggest clubs of the country.

The Austrian-Bosnian started his managerial career as a caretaker at SV Ried. The 42-year-old coach is well-known for motivating his players with emotional talks in the dressing room.

Transfers

This is where it gets tricky. We’re only 10 days away from the start of the 2. Bundesliga season, but Schalke’s team building is far from over. After a disappointing season, they have only signed three players so far in the window.

With FC Zürich’s Nikola Katic, Muslić signed one of the players he knows too well from his Plymouth days. Soufiane El-Faouzi from 3. Liga and Timo Becker, who returned to Veltins-Arena after three years with Holstein Kiel, are the other Schalke signings.

The extent of Karaman’s knee injury could demand a striker signing since Pape Meïssa Ba is closing on a move to QPR. Schalke also plan to add a new midfielder with Ron Schallenberg told to find a new club despite playing the most minutes last term. There is no certainty for more signings for the depleted squad because of the dire financial situation at the club.

Pre-season preparations

In a repeat of the 2005/06 Europa League semi-final tie, Schalke will host Sevilla this Saturday in a final friendly game before the season start. With a coach known for his emphasis on the defensive side of the game at the helm, Schalke kept four clean sheets in the first six friendlies.

They held Panathinaikos and Twente to goalless draws in test games. Their only defeat came against 3. Liga side Wehen Wiesbaden when they scored twice in the final half hour to save face after going 3-0 down.

Predicted XI

Karius; Becker, Katic, Sánchez; Gantenbein, Grüger, El-Faouzi, Bulut; Sylla, Antwi-Adjei; Karaman

3-4-2-1 was Muslić’s favorite formation in England. Finding the perfect left wingback would be a huge issue after the departures of Derry Murkin and Tobias Mohr. Meanwhile, Schalke recalled Loris Karius after his impressive short stint at the club until an injury curtailed his season even shorter.

With more transfers (both incomings and outgoings) expected until the end of the window and the factor of a new coach, Schalke’s lineup could be a lot different from the one projected before the season.

Fixture list

Schalke will host the first game of the 2. Bundesliga season with Hertha Berlin as their guests on August 1st. Their second match will also see them face another big club in Kaiserslautern. The next two home fixtures will be against the two teams relegated from Bundesliga, Bochum and Kiel.

Eintracht Braunschweig, who survived last season after a dramatic relegation playoff win over Saarbrücken, will be the last team to play against Schalke.

Expectations & Prediction

We’ll know more about how Schalke’s season unfolds from how they react to the toughest schedule list at the start of the season. There is always room for surprises, but they’ll start the campaign with lower expectations. While they sit fourth in the estimated market value table by Transfermarkt, there are hosts of other well-equipped 2. Bundesliga clubs for promotion.