David & Goliath in promotion push

Once - and arguably still - a German footballing giant, the last half a decade has seen Schalke plunge into crisis. As recently as March 2019, the Royal Blues were battling against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, having finished second to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga the previous campaign. Fast forward to today, and Schalke are competing in their third successive Bundesliga 2 season.

Recent campaigns for the Royal Blues have been dire. Last season, they finished a worryingly low 14th in Bundesliga 2, only avoiding the play-off at the wrong end by three points.

However, new coach Miron Muslić has brought a renewed sense of optimism to the club in his short tenure to date. Despite losing late against Karlsruhe last time out, Schalke sit second in the table with the best defence in the league, having conceded only seven league goals in 11 games. Prior to defeat last time out, Die Knappen had won five league games on the bounce to top the table.

Watch: Karlsruhe 2-1 Schalke

Elversberg, meanwhile, have been a club on a rapid rise despite their tiny stature. For much of their history, the Saarland club had been playing in Germany’s amateur divisions, but back-to-back promotions in 2022 and 2023 saw the minnows climb up to the second tier for the first time ever, and they haven’t looked back since.

In their debut Bundesliga 2 campaign, Elversberg finished level on points with Schalke in 11th, and last season they were only denied the chance to compete in the Bundesliga by a last-minute Heidenheim goal in the play-off, having finished third in the league.

Watch: Love, joy and tears in play-off

The Royal Blues have finished Bundesliga runners-up on seven occasions, won the German Championship (pre-Bundesliga) seven times and lifted the DFB Cup on five occasions. They also won the UEFA Cup in 1997 and reached the Champions League semi-final in 2011, where they lost to a Manchester United team led by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Of course, it’s not just historically that these two clubs can be separated. Schalke have the third biggest club membership in Germany and the sixth biggest in the world, with over 200,000 members. In Germany, only Bayern and Borussia Dortmund have larger official memberships.

Despite losing some of the stars of last season in Hoffenheim's Fisnik Asllani and Augsburg's Robin Fellhauer, Elversberg have continued their push for promotion this campaign and currently sit in third. They are also the league’s top scorers, having found the back of the net 24 times in their opening 11 league games.

That third-place finish last season was Elversberg’s highest ever in the footballing pyramid, which, when contrasted with that of Schalke, pales in comparison.

Watch: Elversberg 6-0 Greuther Fürth on Matchday 9

In comparison, Elversberg have a reported membership figure of 7,500. That number, incidentally, is only over half the population of the small town that homes Elversberg football club, Spiesen-Elversberg - home to just under 13,000 residents.

Their URSAPHARM-Arena an der Kaiserlinde can accommodate nearly the entire population of the town, as it has the capacity for approximately 10,000 spectators. Schalke’s VELTINS Arena, meanwhile, can house the residents of Spiesen-Elversberg almost five times over with its domestic match capacity of 62,271.

Watch: Schalke 1-2 Elversberg - highlights 

Saturday’s game will be played in Gelsenkirchen in what is sure to be a sold-out stadium, but don’t expect Elversberg to be overwhelmed. In their short time in German professional football, the Saarland club have already claimed sizeable scalps against the likes of Hamburg, Hertha Berlin and Saturday’s opponents Schalke.

Elversberg have won both of their visits to the VELTINS Arena by a margin of 2-1. The latter of which secured the club’s place in the play-off on the final day last season.

Although Saturday’s match pits David against Goliath, either side could conceivably come away with all three points in their quests for promotion to the Bundesliga.