Parkstadion
From 1973 until 2001 the Parkstadion was FC Schalke 04’s home ground. After a last renovation in 1998 it offered a capacity of 62,004 (17,042 standing places), reduced to 55,877 for international matches.
First ideas to build a new stadium for Schalke arose in the early 1960s, but it took until October 1967 until Gelsenkirchen’s city council finally gave the go-ahead. This was partly done with the perspective of the 1974 World Cup which was to take place in Germany. Construction started 2 years later and on the 4th of August 1973 the stadium was opened with a friendly match between Schalke and Feyenoord Rotterdam.
Five matches were played at the Parkstadion during the World Cup, among which three matches in the 2nd group phase. Fourteen years later the stadium would again host matches at an international tournament, this time two group matches during Euro 1988.
In the 90s it became however increasingly clear that the stadium had gotten heavily outdated with its lack of comfort, its stands far away from the pitch, and lack of cover. As a consequence Schalke 04 started looking into the possibilities to build a brand-new stadium and in 1998 construction of the future Veltins Arena began, which opened 3 years later in the summer of 2001. The last competitive match played at the Parkstadion was between Schalke 04 and SpVgg Unterhaching on the 19th of May 2001.
The stadium has been partly demolished, though large parts still exist today.
