It may be a bittersweet boast. A ground that has hosted a World Cup and European Championship final, along with an Olympic Games, is the venue for the meeting of the two clubs in global football with the highest average attendance; while not playing top-flight football, that is.
The 2. Bundesliga resumes after its Winterpause this weekend with the historic Olympiastadion staging Hertha Berlin against Schalke, but with the potential it will not be a second-tier fixture next season. And if the club from the German capital – whose gates average out at 48,451 – still see many an empty seat, that isn’t the case in Gelsenkirchen. Schalke’s mean crowd of 61,826 is exceeded only by 10 others in Europe: Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter, Marseille, Roma, West Ham and Atletico Madrid.
