Willy Nier

Perhaps the Glückauf stadium would never have been built without Willy Nier. And perhaps FC Schalke would not have been able to celebrate its later successes without the stadium. Willy Nier was chairman of the club's finance committee. Thanks to his courageous financial concept, the club was able to finance the expensive construction of the sports facility in the first place. However, Nier was not able to enjoy the Glückauf Stadium for long. In 1930, a financial scandal broke out at Schalke, which ended fatally for Nier (click here for the story).

Willy Nier was born in 1891. He discovered his passion for football at an early age. In 1904, he and friends founded the Ballspielverein 04, which played on a pitch at the Stadtgarten. After the First World War, he took a job as a commercial clerk at the Consolidation Colliery. He joined the miners in 1920 and soon became chairman of the finance committee.