Bundesliga relegation candidate Schalke 04 has done well in a fan poll. VfL Bochum also far ahead. Surprise at BVB.
Schalke 04, a Bundesliga soccer team, is not exactly experiencing rosy times in sporting terms at the moment. Nevertheless, the supporters of the Ruhr club are satisfied with the fan orientation and sense of tradition of their heart’s club – at least those who took part in the survey conducted by the FanQ voting platform.
FanQ asked more than 10,000 Bundesliga soccer fans to rate their club – plus at least 200 per club. The first part, which has now been published, deals with the topics of fan orientation and sense of tradition. FC Schalke 04 comes out well ahead in both cases – and even shares first place on the question of tradition. Only one club has been rated even higher – and it is neither Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern nor VfL Bochum.
The clear leader in the league comparison of this evaluation is Union Berlin. The fans of the Köpenicker rated their club on average with 4.91 out of a possible five stars on the topic of fan orientation and with 4.97 on tradition awareness. Schalke 04 – with its mining and painting tradition – achieved the same score on the second point, making it the joint winner in this category.
In terms of fan orientation, Schalke 04 comes in second – with an average of 4.80 stars. Eintracht Frankfurt (4.76) is followed by two other clubs from the Ruhr region – Borussia Dortmund (4.66) and VfL Bochum (4.65).
Unusual ranking for record champion Bayern Munich
“Both fan orientation and a sense of tradition represent important criteria in soccer – from a fan perspective and beyond,” Kilian Weber, founder and CEO of FanQ, is quoted as saying on the platform’s homepage. “Even if some of the fans view their favorite club through club-colored glasses, other fans take a critical stance precisely because their own club is important to them. The ratings of the clubs differ, sometimes considerably, from which both particularly positive cases and potential for improvement can be identified.”
In contrast to the current Bundesliga table, record champion FC Bayern Munich ranks far behind in the area of fan orientation – in 17th place (4.07); only TSG Hoffenheim (3.65) comes in last and is rated significantly worse.
Schalke 04 club with greatest sense of tradition
Borussia Dortmund also suffered a setback: when asked about its sense of tradition, the runners-up came in ninth place (4.82), shared with VfB Stuttgart and SC Freiburg. Frontrunner Schalke and VfL Bochum in fourth place (4.94) clearly win the comparison of the Revier clubs.
Bringing up the rear in this category is once again Schalke’s most recent opponents TSG Hoffenheim (3.05 stars on average), behind VfL Wolfsburg (4.18) in 16th and RB Leipzig (3.69) in 17th.