Schalke has condemned the fans who police said pelted players with eggs hours after the team was relegated from the Bundesliga. Fan groups confronted the players in the early hours of Wednesday morning when the team returned from its 1-0 away loss at Bielefeld which confirmed Schalke would drop out of German soccer's top tier for the first time in 30 years.

"During this encounter, so far unidentified individual people from the crowd crossed lines which FC Schalke 04 considers non-negotiable," the club said. Schalke added that it understood the anger but "the club will never accept the physical welfare of its players and staff being endangered. That is exactly what happened last night due to the actions of individuals."