Schalke started pre-season training for their first Bundesliga season since 2022-23 in front of 3,700 fans on Sunday and amid ongoing uncertainty on the future of star striker Edin Džeko.

"We are happy that it is starting again. We are happy about the fans. It feels like home and work," coach Miron Muslic said.

Schalke returned to the top flight after three seasons in the second tier and Muslic spoke of an "XXL challenge" to avoid an instant drop back into the second division which they suffered three years ago.

"Of course we know that the Bundesliga is a different kind of challenge, that we have to shift two gears higher, but that is something we want to do," Muslic said.

Schalke have never won the title in the Bundesliga era which started in 1963 but were runners-up seven times, the last time as recently as 2018.

They have signed Junior Adamu from Freiburg and Satoshi Tanaka from Fortuna Dusseldorf but it is not clear whether Džeko will also still be around when they start the league season at the end of August in Augsburg.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina star was a surprise signing in January but his contract expired on June 30 and the 40-year-old Džeko is yet to say whether he will stay. Džeko played at the World Cup where Bosnia were eliminated in the group stage.

"We already agreed before the World Cup that we’d discuss this after the World Cup. We are having a very good dialogue,” said Muslic who was born in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina.