Sports clubs in Germany have more members than ever before

Sports clubs in Germany have broken the 30 million member mark for the first time. This emerges from the latest survey by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) as of January 1, 2026.

The 84,838 sports clubs therefore have 30,082,466 memberships. That's a good 700,000 more than the old record a year earlier, an increase of 2.63 percent. While the number of members increased, there were 465 fewer clubs as of the reporting date than in the previous year - a decrease of 0.55 percent.

“Community and cohesion are created here”

DOSB President Thomas Weikert is pleased with the development. "30 million memberships are a real milestone. First and foremost, I would like to thank all the clubs and committed people at the grassroots level who make this possible," he said.

Sports clubs are places for social meeting points, “community and cohesion are created here.” Weikert called for the clubs to be supported even more “so that they can carry out their tasks in the best possible way for the benefit of our society.”

Football is growing, squash is shrinking

Football continues to be the undisputed leader with almost 8.3 million members (plus 3.41 percent). This is followed by gymnastics with an unchanged 5.3 million members and Alpine clubs and tennis with just over 1.5 million members each.

Members lost include weightlifting, horse riding, taekwondo and rowing. Among the Olympic sports, the numbers fell most significantly in squash, with a decline of almost eleven percent. Squash will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028.

Increase in all federal states

Membership numbers rose in all 16 state sports associations. Hamburg remains the leader with an increase of 6.59 percent.

Bavaria (4.33 percent) and Brandenburg (3.89 percent) follow in second and third place. Saxony-Anhalt recorded the lowest increase (0.4 percent).