German club memberships keep rising

Bayern confirmed at their 2025 annual general meeting at the start of November that they had reached 432,500 members to make them the largest sports club in the world by membership - an achievement president Herbert Hainer said "we can be proud of".

It's a huge increase on the 400,000 number they announced to mark the club's 125th anniversary in February, which took them level with Benfica of Portugal, and the total of 382,000 at the previous year's AGM.

It came after Schalke announced in September 2025 that they had reached the extraordinary figure of 200,000 members for the first time. Yes, the club that has spent two seasons struggling in the second division continues to attract more and more people.

That places the Royal Blues sixth in the world for football club memberships. Bayern top the lot ahead of Benfica (400,000) and Argentinian duo River Plate and Boca Juniors (both over 315,000 in 2023).

In fifth - and second in Germany - is Ruhr arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund, who announced they had 230,000 members as of summer 2025. 

Promoted back to the top flight in 2025, Cologne (155,000) and Hamburg (140,000) are also among the best supported clubs by membership in Germany. They’re joined by 2021/22 UEFA Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt (155,000), DFB Cup holders VfB Stuttgart (126,000) and five-time Bundesliga champions Borussia Mönchengladbach (106,500). The humble duo of Freiburg (79,000) and Union Berlin (70,671) complete the top 10.

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Not only do these figures highlight the popularity of their teams, it also speaks to how football clubs in Germany are able to connect with their fans and make them an active part of their organisation.

Bayern president Hainer said when announcing the club had surpassed 400,000: "Bayern stands for sporting success, financial reason and social commitment. We have also intensified our dialogue with members in recent years. The club is close, and people realise that."

That followed his November 2023 explanation of the club's increasing membership: "Some 78 percent of the new members gave the reason that they want to be part of the Bayern family. The community is just as important for them as sporting success, and that our club upholds values and takes a stance."

Union, who joined the Bundesliga ahead of the 2019/20 season, famously had their Stadion An der Alten Försterei home rebuilt by the fans themselves in 2008, and have since tasted UEFA Champions League football and almost six seasons in the Bundesliga.

The Union fans were rewarded with the opportunity to actually own the stadium they had helped save just a few years later in 2011, when they were offered the chance to own shares in the Alte Försterei.

Schalke have followed their example recently, launching their new registered cooperative society at the end of 2024, which effectively enables fans to buy shares in the club through the cooperative, which will also increase their voice through involvement in voting decisions.

While these membership figures are impressive, they also represent a steady increase over the past few years. The growth doesn’t stop with the top 10 teams, however, as other clubs such as Werder Bremen, Hertha Berlin and Mainz have also seen growth in memberships and match attendances.

Hertha president Fabian Drescher announced at the end of 2024 that “Our club has grown by almost 17,000 members“ since 2022. Dr Hubertus Hess-Grunewald, president and chairman of the supervisory board at Werder, meanwhile, also announced in 2025 when the club reached 64,000 members - of which over 1,000 have been members for life - that "We are incredibly proud of how our membership numbers have grown. That shows the strength, passion and connection within our club and fan community".

Mainz also hit a positive milestone in the 2023/24 season, exceeding the 30,000-mark in average attendances. They launched their regular club-fan dialogue concept in 2022, which provides the opportunity for the fans and clubs to communicate on a consistent basis and discuss topics such as club politics, fan events and any other club updates. Taking the proactive step to ensure their fans feel heard certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Their current competitors for European football, Freiburg, who moved ninth for membership numbers in October 2025, set up a fan advisory board in 2023 with similar intentions. They created this in response to growing membership, in order to make sure that effective communication is maintained between the club and fans despite their growth, and the results are encouraging.

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