The S04 year: July to September

July: China and Mittersill

On 1st July, Schalke begun preparations for the 2017/18 season with performance diagnostic tests. Two days later, more than 1000 fans attended the team’s first public training in order to welcome Domenico Tedesco to FC Schalke 04. The new head coach spent a lot of time chatting, taking pictures and signing autographs for the fans on his first day.

Before leaving China, Schalke bolstered their squad by signing two new players in Amine Harit and Bastian Oczipka who quickly proved to be important additions to the team. Afterwards, the team worked well at the annual summer training camp in Mittersill. The Royal Blues did not lose a single game during their pre-season preparations.

Whilst his teammates were working hard ahead of the new season, Leon Goretzka was part of the Germany squad that travelled to Russia for the 2017 Confederations Cup. Schalke’s number 8 was one of Germany’s top performers at the tournament that they eventually won. Meanwhile, Max Meyer, Thilo Kehrer and Felix Platte were part of the under-21 squad that won the under-21 European Championships in Poland.  

August: A successful start

Schalke’s first match of the new season was against fourth division side BFC Dynamo in the DFB Cup. Ralf Fährmann captained the Royal Blues and led them to a 2-0 victory and the next round of the cup. Schalke also made a successful start to their Bundesliga campaign with a convincing performance and 2-0 win against last year’s runners up RB Leipzig.

The Royal Blues made a few changes to their squad before the close of the summer transfer window. Benedikt Höwedes (Juventus Turin), Johannes Geis (Sevilla FC), Bernard Tekpetey (SCR Altach), Haji Wright (SV Sandhausen) and Luke Hemmerich (VfL Bochum) all went out on loan. Meanwhile, Atsuto Uchida (Union Berlin), Sidney Sam (VfL Bochum) and Felix Platte (SV Darmstadt 98) left the club permanently.  

September: Mixed results

During the international break at the beginning of September, Schalke recorded a thrashing victory against FC Gütersloh in a charity match. The Royal Blues also won their second home game of the season against VfB Stuttgart, however September was not a month full of success at Schalke. The Royal Blues lost to FC Bayern München and 1899 Hoffenheim and drew against Bayer Leverkusen. Despite the mixed results, there were many positives from the team’s performances and the players continued to improve week on week.