The beginning of the millennium has seen improved performance from Schalke. Through the 1990s and the early 2000s, Schalke experienced the successful transition into a modern and commercial sports club and became one of the top teams in the Bundesliga. Schalke won consecutive DFB-Pokals between 2001-02 and 2000-01. They also finished second on the Bundesliga in the seasons 2000-01, 2004-05, and 2006-07. The end of the 2000-01 season was a sigh of sadness for the Schalke fans since it required an unassisted goal in the 4th minute of the injury clock by Bayern Munich away to Hamburger SV to claim the title away from Die Konigsblauen.
The last couple of years have seen more success for Schalke which placed second in 2005. It was this result that saw Schalke being the second team to play at the UEFA Champions League. Then, Schalke finished in third in the group stage before progressing through their participation in the UEFA Cup, where they were eliminated by eventual winner Sevilla during the semifinals. The 2005/06 season, Schalke finished in fourth spot within the Bundesliga and then a year later they finished third runners-up, for the second time within the span of seven seasons.
In the 2007-08 campaign, Schalke moved beyond into the Champions League group stage for the first time. They advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Porto with penalties during the Round of 16. They were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Barcelona in the quarter-finals. losing both away and home matches 1-0.
On October 9, in 2006 Russian energy company Gazprom was named the club's new sponsor. Gazprom stated that it was planning to invest as high as EUR125 million for the club over a five and a half-year time period. Gazprom's sponsorship is seen by some as a political effort to purchase friendship with Germany. In the partnership, Schalke 04 and Zenit Saint Petersburg signed an "partnership agreement" and both clubs plan to collaborate closely in improving issues related to football.
On the 13th of April, 2008, The club made public the demotion of the manager Mirko Slomka following a crushing defeat against Werder Bremen and elimination from the Champions League. The former players Mike Buskens and Youri Mulder were given the charge of one of the teams in an interim capacity. In 2008-09, the Bundesliga year, Schalke signed a new coach in the form of Fred Rutten, previously of Twente. Rutten was signed on a contract through June 2010. Then, in March of 2009 Rutten got fired and the following year, Mike Buskens, Youri Mulder, and Oliver Reck took over the control.
On July 1, 2009, Felix Magath, who had managed VfL Wolfsburg to the top of the league in the Bundesliga and was named the head coach and general manager for the Konigsblauen. This appointment by Magath as manager was accompanied by a multimillion euro expenditure spree, which allowed Schalke to sign internationally renowned forwards like Klaas-Jan Hunterelaar and Raul. Magath's time at Schalke was successful at first, with the team score a lot of goals in the initial several months however, Magath's defensive shortcomings and uncertain selection of his squad was causing him to be unpopular among Schalke fans by the end of December.
On March 16, 2011 Magath was dismissed and replaced by Ralf Rangnick who, prior to that from 2004 to 2005, was in brief stint responsible for the club. Within two weeks of his appointment, Rangnick managed to win 5-2 against Inter Milan at the San Siro during the quarterfinals in the Champions League. Schalke reached the semi-finals which they lost the match 2-0 in the first leg to Manchester United in the first leg , and lost 4-1 in second match. Then, Schalke 04 managed to take home the 2010-11 DFB-Pokal with a crushing victory of 5-0 against MSV Duisburg. The 1st of June 2011 was the day that Schalke's captain Manuel Neuer, made his transfer for Bayern Munich.
On the 22nd of September, 2011 Ralf Rangnick declared his resignation as the head coach at Schalke 04 due to long-term exhaustion. The assistant coach Seppo Eichkorn coached the team as interim manager until the appointment of Huub Stevens on the 27th of September 2011. Stevens' contract was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2013.
Despite his legendary status in the eyes of Schalke fans, Stevens' return to Schalke was met with suspicions, as many feared Stevens was the coach who led Schalke through the 1997 UEFA Cup win with a very defensive approach, might change his approach to attacking in favor of returning to his defensive stance. The fears of supporters were proved to be unfounded. While Schalke had a somewhat inconsistent season, they finished third on the Bundesliga and, consequently, qualified to their place in the UEFA Champions League.
Schalke made a strong beginning in this 2012-13 Bundesliga season. They worked towards a second-place finish in the league in November, which was just a few points ahead of Bayern Munich. The 20th of October was when Schalke went towards Borussia Dortmund to play on match day 8 and managed to beat Borussia Dortmund by a score of 2-1. They were able to earn the club's first Revierderby win since February 2010, while also securing an UEFA Champions League place by finishing in fourth position. For the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League group stage Schalke's opponents were FCSB, FC Basel and Chelsea. Schalke eventually finished the group stage second in the second place, just in second place, behind Chelsea but was eventually eliminated Round of 16. The winner was Real Madrid CF.
The most notable Schalke addition was the signing of Kevin-Prince Boateng , who hails from Milan. After a disappointing start to the season of 2013-14 Bundesliga which saw Schalke placed seventh at the top of the Bundesliga table and an early departure of the 2013-14 DFB-Pokal in the knockout round, the club had the most successful second half of the season since the club's beginning. The season was characterized by numerous injuries to key players, such as Jefferson Farfan and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar throughout the season. The season also brought about discussion about performance-related issues with the head trainer Jens Keller. In part, Schalke fielded up to 10 promising young players that played in the Schalke youth program during the entire season. One of the most promising young players that were discovered during in 2013-14 were Max Meyer and Leon Goretzka. The new Schalke team won 11 of 17 games, accumulating 36 points. In the final stretch of the 2013-14 campaign, Schalke finished third position on the Bundesliga table, allowing them to make their third consecutive UEFA Champions League appearance, something that Schalke has never previously achieved.
On the 7th of October, 2014, following an 1-2 loss in a match against 1899 Hoffenheim in the final match of 2014, and accumulating only eight points in seven games, Keller was sacked and was replaced in the role of Roberto Di Matteo.