Die Null muss stehen! The zero must stand, which means: keep a clean sheet. Before the 1997 UEFA Cup final against Inter Milan, Schalke 04 coach Huub Stevens said: “‘Die Null muss stehen!’ Das ist unser Wahlspruch.” The zero must stand. That is our motto. Schalke won the cup on 21 May 1997.
The phrase became Stevens’s trademark. When he returned to Schalke in December 2020, a fan’s message called it “der ewige Spruch”, the eternal saying. Stevens is Dutch, but the saying became part of German football.