The German Football Federation (DFB) has more than 8 million members for the first time, with youngsters in general and girls in particular the driving force. The DFB said on Thursday that the number of members has risen by 3.
The German Football Federation (DFB) has more than 8 million members for the first time, with youngsters in general and girls in particular the driving force.
The DFB said on Thursday that the number of members has risen by 3.86% to 8,005,050 in the 23,868 German clubs. Membership is up by almost 1 million since 2021.
The biggest growth of 9% came from girls up to 16 years of age, the DFB said.
"It is a strong signal that football in Germany continues to grow in many areas at the 125th anniversary of the DFB," its president Bernd Neuendorf said.
"The clubs are doing our society a big service. That is more important than ever in these turbulent times."
The number of active players has risen to 2.38 million, boosted by the junior game which had 2.15% more players, while the number in the senior men's and women's game was all but unchanged.
Registered girls' teams rose by 10%, and 119,000 girls up to 16 make up a rise of 7%, just below the 7.5% from the previous year. The boys' game also saw a rise, slightly lower though.
The DFB also said that for the first time in a decade it had more than 60,000 referees, 4.5% of them women.
Category: General Sports
