What they achieved in 2022 as second division champions should now be possible again this season: Schalke’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 2025!
While they managed to return to the Bundesliga as second division champions back then, the Royal Blues would be happy to secure promotion as runners-up or even third place via the relegation play-offs. But will they succeed?
Schalke promotion in 2026? Here’s why it can happen!
FC Schalke 04 is a club that, when things are going well, can generate incredible momentum thanks to the support from the stands. The combination of enthusiasm and euphoria could actually carry the Royal Blues back to the Bundesliga.
This could also compensate for the sporting deficits that undoubtedly exist at Kander. This is also evident from a glance at the market value rankings of the second division clubs. Here, Schalke is only in mid-table before the start of the season.
However, recent years have shown that it is not always the teams with the most expensive squads that get promoted – otherwise Hamburger SV would have returned to the Bundesliga much earlier and not after seven years.
In the 2023/24 season, for example, FC St. Pauli and Holstein Kiel managed to secure promotion to the top flight of German football despite not being among the top teams in the market value rankings. That would be one argument in favor of Schalke’s promotion in 2026.
Miron Muslic has been hired as coach to revive Schalke with his footballing philosophy. He favors aggressive pressing with little possession. In other words, fast transitions. A few suitable players have already been brought in for this.
And then there is the psychological component: after two difficult years, in which the Royal Blues even faced relegation to the third division, everyone knows what is at stake.
Only the bookmakers in Germany have not yet taken the miners into account, as the Schalke promotion bets in the run-up to the season show. Königsblau has good promotion odds among the large group of promotion candidates before the start of the season, but they are not among the big favorites to enter the Bundesliga.
S04 Promotion prediction: No, it won’t work again
FC Schalke will not make it back to the Bundesliga this year.
The team is probably not good enough for that. According to the market value ranking at the start of the season, eight or nine teams are nominally better positioned than the Royal Blues.
Somehow, it seems inconceivable that six or seven teams will have such a bad season and that Schalke will perform consistently and finish in the top three.
The competition for promotion places is fierce! In addition to the two relegated teams – Holstein Kiel and VfL Bochum – other big names such as Hertha BSC, Hannover 96, Fortuna Düsseldorf, and probably also SC Paderborn and 1. FC Kaiserslautern are in contention. They all want to get into the Bundesliga.
The high expectations could be a disadvantage. Schalke are longing to return to the Bundesliga.
However, if things don’t go as planned for the Royal Blues (over several weeks), their loyal and vociferous fans could prove to be a disadvantage once again.
