The spectators in the Schalke Arena have not seen any choreographies this season. The reason for this is a difference of opinion between the Ultras and the police.

The topic of choreography remains a hot potato in Gelsenkirchen. And not just because of the dispute between the Ultras Gelsenkirchen and the Gelsenkirchen police and fire department, which has now been going on for a year and a half.

In autumn 2022, the S04 fans had independently expanded a choreography that had been approved in principle and agreed with the security authorities. At that time, a giant Schalke jersey was raised in the North Curve and blown up from the inside with blue smoke.

The jersey gradually changed color. However, this was not authorized, especially as the smoke was slow to dissipate afterwards. The match against SC Freiburg even had to be interrupted for a short time. The authorities spoke of a loss of confidence and no longer wanted to agree to a security concept that included choreos.

Since then, there have been no more choreographies at FC Schalke 04’s home matches. At some point, they did sit down and consider the circumstances under which choreographies might be possible again. But one demand from the authorities remained: the windows of the control rooms must remain clear. The Ultras, on the other hand, do not want to accept this and even put up a banner with the words “Problem windows” above the control centers.

So far, there has only been one exception to this statement. At the last Bundesliga home match against Eintracht Frankfurt, fans in the upper tier wore blue clothing and white clothing in the lower tier. In between, a large banner was hung in the north curve with the inscription: “I’ll wear blue and white forever!”. Extra T-shirts were sold in advance, which sold like hot cakes and sold out quickly. Long queues of fans formed at the points of sale.

This campaign is now to be repeated for the entire stadium in the last home game of the season against Hansa Rostock. The Ultras Gelsenkirchen announced this on posters at the home game against Fortuna Düsseldorf. It is not yet known whether there will be another T-shirt sale. Further information will follow in the coming days.

We can only hope that the season ends better than last year