The 14th matchday of the 2nd Bundesliga has a real top game in store when league leaders SC Paderborn visit FC Schalke 04. The Knappen are a real power at home in 2025/26, but they will welcome real away experts on Friday (November 28th, 6:30 p.m.).
FC Schalke 04 won a strong five of six league home games over the course of the season, only on matchday 5 (0-1 against Kiel) did the Royal Blues not leave the pitch as winners. The last three duels in Gelsenkirchen were also won 1-0.
In the home table, S04 is “only” fourth (15 points), but all three teams placed ahead of Knappen already have one more game under their belt, and leaders Lautern are still only one point ahead.
However, on Friday at 6:30 p.m. (for the LIVE ticker), the team that seems capable of storming any football festival will be playing at Schalke: SC Paderborn.
The 0-2 home defeat against Hannover recently ended Paderborn’s series of eight wins in a row – a club record in the 2nd league. However, the SCP is still unbeaten away from home this season (W4 D2) and has even won all of its last four games away from home. However, there is still a way to go until Paderborn’s record in the 2nd league: This includes 13 unbeaten games abroad (April 2021 to February 2022).
What else should give Schalke something to think about: The direct comparison is only reassuring at first glance: On the one hand, Schalke clearly dominates the comparison with the SCP (6W 2D 2L) – but both draws and one of the two S04 defeats came in home games. The East Westphalians celebrated their victory at Schalke last season when they won 2-0 at the beginning of May 2025 and kept a clean sheet against Schalke for the first time.
Further facts about the game between FC Schalke 04 and SC Paderborn:
- FC Schalke only topped 28 points after 13 matchdays in the 2nd Bundesliga in 1990/91. Back then it was 29 points converted to the 3-point rule, and at the end of the season they were promoted to the Bundesliga. In 2023/24 and 2024/25 there were only 13 points each.
- Defensively, Schalke have never been better in the German league system at this point: against Preußen Münster (0-0) they kept a clean slate for the 7th time in the season (club record after 13 second division games) and have only conceded 7 goals. The previous record was 9 goals conceded in the 2005/06 first division season. To put it into perspective: Last season there were already 26 goals conceded after 13 match days.
- With 184 fouls, Schalke has the toughest pace in the league so far, while Paderborn only fouled 157 times (5 teams less often). Only Bochum (50) beats Schalke’s 39 yellow cards, while only Darmstadt (20) beats Paderborn’s (25).
- S04 regular Ron Schallenberg was born in Paderborn and spent most of his career at SC Paderborn. The midfielder joined the East Westphalia youth team in 2009, made his debut in the SCP jersey in League 2 in 2020 and played 106 competitive games for Paderborn, more than for any other club.
- Schalke’s Christopher Antwi-Adjei, who played for Paderborn for four seasons from the summer of 2017 and played 146 competitive games, has a successful past on the Lippe. With the ex-Ghana national player as a regular, the SCP managed to move through from the 3rd league to the Bundesliga from 2017/18.
The highlights of the game are available immediately after the final whistle RTL+