The Park Stadium in the Erle district of the city of Gelsenkirchen was Schalke 04's home ground from 1973 to 2001. The Park Stadium has an eventful history. Built from 1969 - 1973. Opened on August 4th, 1973 with the game in the UI Cup, Schalke 04 - Feyenoord Rotterdam (1:2). Was partially demolished in 2004 and 2008. And converted to an amateur stadium from 2015 - 2020. A football stadium with around 3,000 seats was built on the site of the old stadium under the old name Parkstadion. The youth team of the U19 and the second team (U23) of Schalke 04 play their home games there. The opening of the amateur stadium took place with a friendly match on August 15, 2020 with Schalke 04 – SC Verl (4:5).
Considered the biggest event in the Parkstadion and although the stadium was often reviled because of its size, a cult developed around Schalke's home games in the UEFA Cup in the 1996/97 season. All six games, including the first leg against Inter Milan, remained clean sheets, which was considered a basis for Schalke's UEFA Cup success.
And the Parkstadion also experienced Schalke's darkest hour.
On May 19, 2001, the probably most memorable final matchday in Bundesliga history happened: FC Schalke 04 was German champion for four minutes and 38 seconds. Then FC Bayern Munich struck - and the royal blue sank into a valley of tears.
The actual last football game of the first team of FC Schalke 04 in the Parkstadion was a friendly game against MSV Duisburg on November 17, 2008 (3:1).