Schalke 04

Reasons To Adopt

Here is the argument for Schalke 04: Germany, Germany Bundesliga, and a ground called Veltins-Arena. A second team should give you something your first one cannot, and this is a different country's whole weather system.

• Old enough to matter

  1904 is the founding date, old enough that the club has survived a war, a rebuild and at least one financial scare, young enough that the good years are still in living memory.

• Nothing won, everything to play for

  Trophyless, so far. That is the pitch: be there before the story turns.

• Cathedral football

  Veltins-Arena holds around 62,273. Even a routine league game arrives with a noise floor most clubs only reach in a semi-final.

• You get a nickname

  Known as Die Königsblauen (The Royal Blues) Die Knappen (The Miners). That is your new shorthand, your search term and your excuse for buying a scarf.