UEFA Euro 2024
Group C
England v Serbia
Arena Auf Schalke
Gelsenkirchen, Germany
16 Jun 2024
The official tournament programme covered all of England's Group games and the Knockout Phase up until the Semi Final and was very good quality with 98 pages of gloss and colour
ESTC tickets for this game were in plentiful supply with a final allocation of 9992, with 2306 available as Fans First tickets priced at 30 Euros. A total of 13274 members had pre-registered for this game but many had picked up tickets in the UEFA ballot or from touts/3rd party ticket sites
Arena AufSchalke (Veltins Arena) is a fantastic stadium and home to Schalke 04. It hosted the 2004 Champions League Final and 4 matches at the 2006 FIFA WC, including the infamous 'wink gate' when Portugal beat England on 3-1 on penalties in the QF . It has a retractable roof and a capacity of 62,271 (seating and standing) but for the Euros it has been reduced to 50,000 all seated
During Euro 24 Arena AufSchalke hosted 3 Group games: Serbia v England (0-1), Spain v Italy (1-0) and Georgia v Portugal (2-0). It also hosted the Round of 16 match between England and Slovakia (2-1).
Edition 185 pictures Jude Bellingham on the front cover. After winning a Champions League winners medal at the age of 20 and being voted La Liga's best player, high hopes are being placed on his shoulders
Attendance: 48953
Day 1 - Trave day: So the journey begins on Jun 14 at the 'Pig and Whistle' at Grantham train station
Crossing the border into Germany (1st of many)
Finally, after 4 trains and a taxi ride we arrive at our digs, the 'Back stage Apartment' in Bude (North Gelsenkirchen)
Day 2 - Bike tour and the Schalke Fan Bar: Start point is the Back Stage apartment at 76 Dorstener Strasse
Bude decked out in Euro 24 livery
Taking advantage of the Euro 24 bike rental scheme
We head down from Buer on Horster Strasse on the mining heritage cycle route towards the Rungenberg slag heap we come across the grave of Alex - 'the last pit pony'
Next we pass the former railway guard's building at the Hugo Bahn which served the Hugo Colliery.
Railway cart laden with coal
Graffiti on the industrial heritage route
Sue getting carried away
Heading south we cross over the Emscher on our way to the Rhein-Hern canal
The Fan Park and main public viewing area (amphitheatre) on the Rhein-Herne canal at Nordstern Park
Gelsenkirchen welcomes you from the Nordstern Colliery
Those clouds !
Hercules on top of the main shaft. The Nordstern colliery was the last to produce coal and was notorious for being the hardest and most demanding for the miners (Kumpel)
Back on the bikes we head south to Rheinelbe and the famous Himmelstreppe (stairway to heaven)
Time to get the flag out
The monument on top is a random combination of blocks of stone by artist Herman Prigann
And it is bloody windy
We head back into Gelsenkirchen Altstadt to park our bikes and head off on foot to explore the city
The Altstadtkirche on Heinrich-Konig-Platz
But to be fair the most interesting thing about Gelsenkirchen Altstadt is tram number 302 heading up the Schalke Meile
Next stop is the Schalke Fan Kneipe, outside the pub the Schalke banners read:
"Board members play and coaches go, fans are always here"
"We are No1 in the Pott (Ruhr Pot)"
"We are proud of our team"
"Blue and white for a lifetime"
It appears that 24 hours before our game they have rolled out the red carpet, so I promise to put these photos on the EF Facebook site
Memorabilia and scarves everywhere
Prost und Gluckauf
We venture up the road to grab some dinner at Bosch 04
The Bosch clubhouse is a historical venue for Schalke fans, not only is it next to the club's iconic home at 'Gluckauf Kampfbahn' it was also the pub where the players, families and friends frequented. The pub had a long tradition of being named after it's landlord, usually an Ex player. After the Kaiserhalle was destroyed in WW2 a new venue was required and Otte Tibulsky made the 'Tibulsky' the main clubhouse and his name stood over the door until 1971 and then a new landlord (Gerd Bosch) took over and it became 'Bosch'. Gerd Bosch died in 1998 but his name lives on
This is the seat of where Kuzora would sit, smoke cigars and drink beer and schnapps
The Gluckauf Kampfbahn was built in 1927 to satisfy demand from the thousands who wanted to see the famous Schalke play. Consolidation colliery helped to resource the building of the stadium and leased the land for the club to build on, the club then became known as Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 BV
In this stadium the club won 7 German Championships and 5 German Cups
The venue still hosts youth and B games and has also been the home of regional side Teutonia Schalke
Schalke 04 graffiti on the walls
This is the building on the Schalke Meile which was controversially painted yellow in the colours of arch rivals Borussia Dortmund but has since been given a make over
In 1975 club legend Ernst Kuzorra took over ownership of a tobacco shop on Konig-Wilhelm-Strasse just 5 minutes away from his favourite bar 'Tibulsky' and later 'Bosch'
Back in the Fan Bar to get my shot Borussia anti venom or 'Zecken schutz' (tick protection)
The party is getting started
'Together for city and club'
Day 3 - Matchday and the Schalke party. Lucky pants at the ready!
The scene of my demise in Buer. Apparently after the Schalke Fan Bar we ended up here in the Juniper House
The Serbs have their fan meeting point in Buer at St Urbanus Church square
Pre-match Serbian style
Sergej the Serb
The Little Englander
Pre match view of the Arena Aufschalke
Sitting on the terrace of the Parkstadion
Bagging some culture at the 13th century Schloss Berg
But were back on tram 302 going the other way
All roads lead to the Schalke Fan bar - Sue just completed her first tick protection vaccination
Beer Garden life
Beer Garden video
Atmosphere is brewing in the garden
Schalke mural outside the Beer Garden
Martin from Duisburg
Derby are everywhere
Me, Duisburg Martin and Dino the politician
Tick protection complete
The famous German comedian Lutz Van Der Horst
Lutz Van Der Horst in the 'Not my King' sketch
Showing the locals how to dance
A bit of Fat Les
After a short uncomplicated tram ride on the 302 we arrive at the Arena Aufschalke - AKA Veltins Arena
Duisburg Martin has lost his hat
England are here...
so are the Serbs
Shenanigans on the concourse
Can't start a🔥
East stand is filling
3 Lions on a shirt
To Berlin, were on our way
Anthems are imminent 🥁🥁
God save the King
England open the scoring with a bullet header from Jude Bellingham on 13 minutes
Happy, pissed or both?
Despite the great start this is not going to be an easy ride
The West Stand and the ViP enclosure
The match ends 1:0 to England but it was a hard fought win against a much improved Serbian team who came close on several occasions. Despite Harry Kame thundering a header off the bar it stayed 1:0
Bellingham gets the MOTM award but England must improve
The first victory celebration, now to navigate our way back to Buer, across the train tracks and in the dark 🕶
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