The Revierderby is back on the Bundesliga calendar after FC Schalke 04's promotion. The first meeting of 2026/27 will be on Matchday 12, from 4-6 December 2026 in Gelsenkirchen, with the return fixture on Matchday 29, from 9-11 April 2027 in Dortmund. It will be the 101st Bundesliga meeting between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke.
Fixture dates and the first derby back
The wait has been three years. Schalke return to the top flight under Miron Muslić, and that alone restores the region's biggest fixture to the league schedule. Karaman summed up the mood neatly in his interview with bundesliga.com: "The whole region is already waiting for Bundesliga fixtures. There's nothing greater than playing at 3.30pm on a Saturday."
Dortmund's response was just as direct. Niko Kovač said: "Schalke belong in the Bundesliga. I warmly congratulate them, including my coaching colleague. Next season we've got the Revierderby."
Why the derby still carries weight
This is not just another promotion story. The Bundesliga head-to-head still leans Dortmund, 37 wins to Schalke's 32, with 31 draws, and the fixture has thrown up the kind of chaos that keeps it alive in the memory. The last derby on 11 March 2023 finished 2-2 after Dortmund twice went ahead and Schalke pulled them back each time.
The older benchmark is even more vivid. In 2017 at Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund led 4-0 at half-time before Schalke scored four after the break, with Naldo's added-time header completing the comeback. That is the level of history the fixture is rejoining.
Dortmund still look like the stronger side on paper. They finished second in the 2025 Bundesliga standings and collected 73 points from 34 games, even if their last five league results read WWLWL. But the derby has never cared much about tidy league form, and Schalke's return is enough to make this one feel properly alive again.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →