Schalker Kreisel, reloaded

Good luck

After 16 months of cons­truc­tion, the new sports garden at Ernst-Kuzorra-Platz in Gelsen­kir­chen-Schalke was opened in July 2025. With a project volume of 4.5 million euros and an area of 13,000 m², this faci­lity is a signi­fi­cant mile­stone for the truly unpri­vi­leged Gelsen­kir­chen district of Schalke-Nord.

A fenced-in waste­land with unstruc­tured green areas and parking spaces was trans­formed into a modern neigh­bor­hood park with a variety of sports and leisure faci­li­ties. As part of the cons­truc­tion work, old steps, fences, paths and trees were removed. This was followed by exten­sive earthworks, the instal­la­tion of new top layers of gravel and recy­cled mate­rial and the laying of various surfaces – from water-bound surfaces to arti­fi­cial turf and paved areas with grass joints.

The sports garden on Ernst-Kuzorra-Platz now offers a wide range of freely acces­sible and free exer­cise and recrea­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties:

• Tram­po­line faci­lity and motor skills course
• Soccer, basket­ball and teqball pitch (combi­na­tion of table tennis and soccer)
• Bould­e­ring wall and child­ren’s play­ground
• Multi­func­tional areas with drin­king water foun­tain for events

The concrete blocks in four shades of gray over an area of 800 m², which were laid accor­ding to a computer-gene­rated “planned random” pattern, are striking.

The city of Gelsen­kir­chen deve­loped the project with local stake­hol­ders. Of the total costs of 4.5 million euros, 3.6 million euros are being financed by federal and state urban deve­lo­p­ment funding, while the city itself is contri­bu­ting 900,000 euros.

History

The neigh­boring Glückauf-Kampf­bahn is charac­te­ristic of the site’s special atmo­sphere. Built on a colliery site in the 1920s and opened in 1928, the stadium was the home ground of FC Schalke 04 until 1973, where the club won its German cham­pi­on­ship titles.

After the club moved to the then new Park­sta­dion in 1973, the faci­lity fell into disre­pair. It was reno­vated for the 2006 World Cup for public viewing and other events, and today the venerable cata­combs and the arti­fi­cial pitch are mainly used by the friendly district league team DJK Teutonia Schalke-Nord.

In conjunc­tion with the Glückauf-Kampf­bahn, the sports garden on Ernst-Kuzorra-Platz now func­tions as a very special venue for district festi­vals and supra-regional events. Its loca­tion on the “Schalker Meile” with its high density of club history makes it an important cultural buil­ding block.

The project and loca­tion combine sport, encoun­ters, exer­cise and tradi­tion and streng­then the Schalke-Nord district in the long term.

Renewal

The project follows an inte­grated urban deve­lo­p­ment approach: sports and leisure faci­li­ties are used speci­fi­cally as a cata­lyst for social inte­gra­tion. Free access breaks down social barriers and creates meeting spaces and offers for people from a wide range of back­grounds. The connec­tion to the Glcü­kauf-Kampf­bahn streng­thens the iden­tity of the district.

Schalke-Nord is strugg­ling with struc­tural chal­lenges such as unem­ploy­ment, social problems and urban deve­lo­p­ment defi­cits. The sports garden on Ernst-Kuzorra-Platz is ther­e­fore much more than a leisure faci­lity, it is a central compo­nent of the urban renewal process.

Sport can do that too.