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List of sports clubs by membership

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This page lists the sports clubs with the largest number of members in the world. In many European countries, professional football teams are not organized as clubs, but as corporations. This includes all teams in the English Premier League and most teams in the Spanish Primera División and the Italian Serie A. They therefore do not appear on this list, although they sometimes offer interested persons the opportunity to become 'members' for a fee, which gives them advantages in the purchase of tickets and merchandise. In the big four sports leagues in the United States and Canada, clubs are usually franchises owned by private investors. In Germany, most professional sport teams are organized as corporations (GmbH or Aktiengesellschaft); however, in accordance with the 50+1 rule, the majority of votes lies with the registered associations (e. V.), which have members.

List of largest sports clubs

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This list contains all clubs with a current membership of 75,000 or more, provided this is sufficiently documented. There may be other clubs that meet this criterion. The data is based on various sources and may therefore vary in terms of the survey period or the standards applied, which may limit comparability. The inclusion of inactive members who have stopped paying their membership fees alongside active members who actually pay their fees is another factor that can distort the reliability of this list.

Sports clubs with more than 75,000 members
Rank Sports club Place Members Date
1 S.L. Benfica Lisbon,  Portugal 400,000 February 2025[1]
1 FC Bayern Munich Munich,  Germany 400,000 February 2025[2][3]
3 Club Atlético River Plate Buenos Aires,  Argentina 350,000 December 2024[4]
4 Boca Juniors Buenos Aires,  Argentina 335,000 August 2023[4]
5 Borussia Dortmund Dortmund,  Germany 218,000 November 2024[5]
6 Tasmania Football Club Tasmania,  Australia 207,000+ March 2025[6]
7 FC Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen,  Germany 180,000 December 2023[7]
8 German Alpine Club Munich section Munich,  Germany 179,391 December 2023[8]
9 German Alpine Club Oberland section Munich,  Germany 174,515 December 2023[8]
10 Melbourne Cricket Club Melbourne,  Australia 157,708 31 August 2022[9]
11 FC Barcelona Barcelona,  Spain 150,317 May 2023[10]
12 Eintracht Frankfurt Frankfurt,  Germany 150,000 February 2025[11]
13 Sporting CP Lisbon,  Portugal 146,292 March 2024[12]
14 SC Internacional Porto Alegre,  Brazil 135,000 March 2024[13]
15 1. FC Köln Cologne,  Germany 132,439 September 2023[14]
16 FC Porto Porto,  Portugal 131,037 September 2024[15]
17 HNK Hajduk Split Split,  Croatia 120,637 August 2024[16]
18 Grêmio FBPA Porto Alegre,  Brazil 114,425 September 2023[17]
19 Collingwood Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 110,102 2024[18]
20 West Coast Eagles Perth,  Australia 103,275 2023[19]
21 Austrian Alpine Club Edelweiss section Vienna,  Austria 102,435 December 2022[20]
22 Richmond Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 101,349 2023[19]
23 Hamburger SV Hamburg,  Germany 100,000 September 2023[21]
VfB Stuttgart Stuttgart,  Germany 100,000 3rd May 2024[22]
Borussia Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach,  Germany 100,000 December 2023[23]
24 Real Madrid CF Madrid,  Spain 99,781 December 2023[24]
25 Carlton Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 95,277 2023[19]
26 Club Atlético Independiente Avellaneda,  Argentina 95,173 August 2023[4]
27 CR Flamengo Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil 89,859 March 2023[25]
28 Essendon Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 86,274 2023[19]
29 Feyenoord Rotterdam Rotterdam,  Netherlands 85,000 May 2024[26]
30 Racing Club de Avellaneda Avellaneda,  Argentina 83,717 August 2023[4]
31 CR Vasco da Gama Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil 82,611 January 2021[27]
32 Geelong Football Club Geelong,  Australia 82,155 2023[19]
33 Hawthorn Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 80,698 2023[19]
34 San Lorenzo de Almagro Buenos Aires,  Argentina 80,410 August 2023[4]
35 Austrian Alpine Club Austria section Vienna,  Austria 78,211 December 2022[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Benfica announces reaching 400,000 members". Observador. 26 February 2025. Retrieved 27 February 2025.
  2. ^ Munich, Bayern (3 December 2024). "Herbert Hainer im Gespräch: FC Bayern durchbricht Schallmauer von 382.000 Mitgliedern".
  3. ^ "A look at why Bayern Munich are the world's best-supported club as they move past 400,000 members". bundesliga.de. Frankfurt am Main: DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH. 27 February 2025. Retrieved 30 March 2025. Bayern, Germany's record champions, are celebrating their 125th anniversary. Alongside that landmark, they also now boast 400,000 registered members, which makes them the best-supported club in the world by that measure, outstripping fellow European juggernauts Benfica.
  4. ^ a b c d e "River Plate alcanzó una cifra récord de socios y quedó segundo en el ranking mundial". infobae (in European Spanish). 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  5. ^ "218.000 Mitglieder - enteilt der BVB nun Schalke?". www.reviersport.de/ (in German). 2024-11-24. Retrieved 2025-02-26.
  6. ^ "Chair Update - March 2025". Tasmania Devils. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  7. ^ Heßbrügge, Rolf (2023-12-06). "Schalke: Das ist die schöne Bescherung in der Weihnachtszeit". www.waz.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  8. ^ a b "Magazin des Deutschen Alpenvereins (DAV)". www.alpenverein.de (in German). 2023-08-29. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  9. ^ "Final MCC Annual Report |" (PDF). 2023-06-23. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  10. ^ "Xavi's son becomes FC Barcelona member". fcbarcelona.com. 2023-05-31. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  11. ^ "150.000 Mitglieder!". Eintracht (in German). Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  12. ^ "Sporting regista recorde de sócios pagantes em 2023". www.record.pt (in European Portuguese). 2024-03-07. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  13. ^ "Inter supera 107 mil sócios e impulsiona venda de camisas após chegada de Valencia". ge (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-03-07. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  14. ^ "Membership". 1. FC Köln.
  15. ^ "Nova administração da SAD do FC Porto corta quase três quartos de remuneração fixa". SIC Notícias. 2024-09-10. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  16. ^ "Članstvo (Membership)". April 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  17. ^ "Rumo aos 120 mil; Veja o número de sócios do Grêmio em 2023". Grêmio News. 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  18. ^ "Collingwood break membership record for second consecutive year". Collingwood FC. 2024-08-04. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
  19. ^ a b c d e f "Pies leapfrog rival duo as 15 clubs set records: 2023 AFL membership ladder revealed". Fox Sports. 2023-09-05. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  20. ^ a b Jahresbericht 2022 p. 16
  21. ^ "Wir sind 100.000!". HSV e.V. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  22. ^ "Über 100.000 Dunkelrote!". VfB Stuttgart (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  23. ^ "Borussia Mönchengladbach | Wir sind 100.000! 💚". Borussia Mönchengladbach (in German). Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  24. ^ "Cómo hacerse socio del Real Madrid: carnet, abonos, entradas y beneficios". goal.com (in Spanish). 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  25. ^ "Transparência - Flamengo". www.flamengo.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  26. ^ "Het Legioen - De officiële supportersclub van Feyenoord - Legioen". hetlegioen.feyenoord.nl. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  27. ^ Montalvão, Tauan (2021-02-18). "Vasco divulga número de sócios em janeiro de 2021; confira". Vasco Notícias (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-01-29.
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