Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly known as simply FC Schalke 04 or Schalke (German pronunciation: [ˈʃalkə]), is a German association-football club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Schalke has long been one of the most popular football teams in Germany, even though major successes have been rare since the club's heyday in the 1930s and early 1940s. The football team is the biggest part of a large sports club with more than 100,000 members (August 2011) making it the second largest sports club in Germany. Other activities offered by the club include basketball, handball, and track and field.

Schalke won its first major European trophy in 1997 by defeating Internazionale on penalty kicks in the final of the UEFA Cup. Since 2001, Schalke's stadium is the Veltins-Arena. Schalke holds a long-standing rivalry with Borussia Dortmund, and matches between the two teams are referred to as the Revierderby. The mascot of the club is called Erwin (also Ährwin.)

Kevin-Prince Boateng ( /ˈboʊtɛŋ/ BOH-teng) (born 6 March 1987), is a German-born Ghanaian professional footballer, who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Milan. Boateng plays with his middle name, Prince, on his shirt. He played nine games for Ghanaian national team after appearing for Germany's under-15s to their under-21s; he retired from international football on 4 November 2011. Boateng is known for his strength, footspeed, ball-juggling tricks and offensive abilities. Boateng has received praise from George Weah for his attributes and Dejan Savićević has branded him as one of Europe's best footballers.

Boateng started his career with the youth club Reinickendorfer Füchse and was with Hertha from 1 July 1994, when he was just seven years old, to 31 July 2007.

After emerging from the youth team set-up, he played for the reserves for two seasons. He was twice sent off during his term with the reserves and then won a call-up to the first team squad in the 2005–06 season.

Boateng made his first team debut against Eintracht Frankfurt in the second round of the 2005–06 Bundesliga season, being brought on at the beginning of the second half, he then impressed during the game, and was on the fringe of the first team from then on, despite barely being 18 years old at the time. Boateng continued his rise, and started his first Bundesliga match in the 2–2 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 14th round of the Bundesliga season.

Kevin Prince (born November 28, 1989) is an American football quarterback. He played at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California. He is a redshirt junior at UCLA, the starting quarterback for the team. Prince won the starter spot in the 2009 spring practices in a battle with junior Kevin Craft and freshman Richard Brehaut.

Prince was selected by Head Coach Rick Neuheisel to start the season opener in the Rose Bowl against San Diego State and won the game 33-14. In that game, he completed 18 of 29 passes for 176 yards and threw 1 int.

On September 25, 2010, Prince led the Bruins to an upset victory over then-No. 7 ranked Texas Longhorns 34-12 in front of more than 101,430 fans in Austin, Texas. Previous week, the Bruins were victorious over then-No. 23 Houston Cougars 31-13 at home.

Prince finished the 2011 1,627 yards passing with 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

His father is a dentist, who graduated from UCLA.

At the Tennessee game, Prince's right jaw was broken in the final minutes of the game. It took four weeks for it to heal, and he missed two games. He also injured his shoulder in the USC game, which was aggravated late in the 2009 EagleBank Bowl verses Temple.

Julian Draxler (born 20 September 1993 in Gladbeck) is a German footballer who plays for FC Schalke 04.

Draxler made his Bundesliga debut on 15 January 2011 in a 0–1 loss to Hamburger SV. At that time, he was the fourth youngest Bundesliga player ever. One week later, in Schalke's 1–0 win against Hannover 96, he became the second youngest field player after Nuri Şahin to ever start a Bundesliga game.

On 25 January 2011, Julian Draxler came on as a substitute for Peer Kluge in the quarter finals of the DFB-Pokal against 1. FC Nuremberg in the second half of extra time. He scored his first goal for Schalke 04 in the dying seconds of the game to win the match 3–2 for his club. He scored his first goal in the Bundesliga on 1 April 2011 against St. Pauli.

Draxler opened the scoring in Schalke's 2011 DFB-Pokal Final victory over MSV Duisburg, volleying in from outside the area, scoring the first of what proved to be five unanswered goals for Schalke.

On 9 August 2011, Draxler scored on his debut for the Germany U-21 side in the 4:1 win over Cyprus U-21 in a 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifier.

Jefferson Agustín Farfán Guadalupe (born 26 October 1984) is a Peruvian football striker, playing for Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga.

Farfán began his professional career with Alianza Lima of Peru, with whom he signed in 2001. Although he made some appearances at first-team in 2001, Farfán only began to break through in 2002, becoming an impact player and helping Alianza win the Peruvian championship in 2003.

In his final season with the club in 2004, Farfán scored 14 goals, helping the club to another Peruvian championship. Following that season he was purchased by Dutch club PSV Eindhoven after being scouted by Guus Hiddink, for a reported 2 million Euro transfer fee.

On 5 June 2008, it was reported that PSV had reached an agreement with German side Schalke 04 over the transfer of Farfán for around €10 million. On 10 June 2008, Schalke 04 officially confirmed the transfer of Farfán on a four-year deal.

Farfán was an important player for the Peru national team. Since making his debut for the side in February 2003, he has already gained more than 30 caps. He has also contributed vital goals for PSV both domestically as well as in the UEFA Champions League which saw PSV enjoying a fine run to the semi-finals in the 2004–05 season.