List of sports clubs by membership

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

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 Sport Place Members Date
1 FC Bayern Munich Association football Munich,  Germany 432,500 November 2025[1]
2 S.L. Benfica Association football Lisbon,  Portugal 400,000 February 2025[2]
3 Club Atlético River Plate Association football Buenos Aires,  Argentina 350,000 December 2024[3]
4 Boca Juniors Association football Buenos Aires,  Argentina 282,000 January 2026[4]
5 Borussia Dortmund Association football Dortmund,  Germany 218,000 November 2024[5]
6 Tasmania Football Club Australian rules football Tasmania,  Australia 210,000 May 2025[6]
7 FC Schalke 04 Association football Gelsenkirchen,  Germany 200,000 September 2025[5]
8 German Alpine Club Munich section Mountaineering Munich,  Germany 179,391 December 2023[7]
9 Sporting CP Association football Lisbon,  Portugal 179,208 June 2025[8]
10 FC Porto Association football Porto,  Portugal 170,000 December 2025[9]
11 FC Barcelona Association football Barcelona,  Spain 150,317 May 2023[10]
12 AFC Ajax Association football Amsterdam,  Netherlands 150,000 August 2025[11]
13 Eintracht Frankfurt Association football Frankfurt,  Germany 150,000 February 2025[12]
14 Hamburger SV Association football Hamburg,  Germany 140,000 November 2025[13]
15 SC Internacional Association football Porto Alegre,  Brazil 135,000 March 2024[14]
16 1. FC Köln Association football Cologne,  Germany 132,439 September 2023[15]
17 HNK Hajduk Split Association football Split, Croatia 120,951 December 2025[16]
18 Grêmio FBPA Association football Porto Alegre,  Brazil 112,425 September 2023[17]
19 Collingwood Football Club Australian rules football Melbourne,  Australia 110,102 2024[18]
20 West Coast Eagles Australian rules football Perth,  Australia 103,275 2023[19]
21 Austrian Alpine Club Edelweiss section Mountaineering Vienna,  Austria 102,435 December 2022[20]
22 Richmond Football Club Australian rules football Melbourne,  Australia 101,349 2023[19]
23 VfB Stuttgart Association football Stuttgart,  Germany 100,000 3rd May 2024[21]
24 Borussia Mönchengladbach Association football Mönchengladbach,  Germany 100,000 December 2023[22]
25 Real Madrid CF Association football Madrid,  Spain 99,781 December 2023[23]
26 Carlton Football Club Australian rules football Melbourne,  Australia 100,743 2025[19]
27 Club Atlético Independiente Association football Avellaneda,  Argentina 95,173 August 2023[3]
28 CR Flamengo Association football Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil 89,859 March 2023[24]
29 Essendon Football Club Australian rules football Melbourne,  Australia 86,274 2023[19]
30 Feyenoord Rotterdam Association football Rotterdam,  Netherlands 85,000 May 2024[25]
31 Racing Club de Avellaneda Association football Avellaneda,  Argentina 83,717 August 2023[3]
32 CR Vasco da Gama Association football Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil 82,611 January 2021[26]
33 Geelong Football Club Australian rules football Geelong,  Australia 82,155 2023[19]
34 Hawthorn Football Club Australian rules football Melbourne,  Australia 80,698 2023[19]
35 San Lorenzo de Almagro Association football Buenos Aires,  Argentina 80,410 August 2023[3]
36 SC Freiburg Association football Freiburg im Breisgau,  Germany 79,000 October 2025[27]
37 Austrian Alpine Club Austria section Mountaineering Vienna,  Austria 78,211 December 2022[20]

List of largest association football clubs

Association football clubs with more than 100,000 members
Rank Club Place Members Date
1 FC Bayern Munich Munich,  Germany 432,500 November 2025[1]
2 S.L. Benfica Lisbon,  Portugal 400,000 February 2025[2]
3 Club Atlético River Plate Buenos Aires,  Argentina 350,000 December 2024[3]
4 Boca Juniors Buenos Aires,  Argentina 335,000 August 2023[3]
5 Borussia Dortmund Dortmund,  Germany 218,000 November 2024[5]
6 FC Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen,  Germany 200,000 September 2025[5]
7 Sporting CP Lisbon,  Portugal 179,208 June 2025[8]
8 FC Porto Porto,  Portugal 170,000 December 2025[9]
9 FC Barcelona Barcelona,  Spain 150,317 May 2023[10]
10 Eintracht Frankfurt Frankfurt,  Germany 150,000 February 2025[12]
11 SC Internacional Porto Alegre,  Brazil 135,000 March 2024[14]
12 1. FC Köln Cologne,  Germany 132,439 September 2023[15]
13 HNK Hajduk Split Split, Croatia 120,951 December 2025[16]
14 Grêmio FBPA Porto Alegre,  Brazil 113,425 September 2023[17]

List of largest Australian rules football clubs

Australian rules football clubs with more than 75,000 members
Rank Club Place Members Date
1 Tasmania Football Club Tasmania,  Australia 210,000+ May 2025[6]
2 Collingwood Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 110,102 2024[18]
3 West Coast Eagles Perth,  Australia 103,275 2023[19]
4 Richmond Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 101,349 2023[19]
5 Carlton Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 95,277 2023[19]
6 Essendon Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 86,274 2023[19]
7 Geelong Football Club Geelong,  Australia 82,155 2023[19]
8 Hawthorn Football Club Melbourne,  Australia 80,698 2023[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "FC Bayern Munich | WhatsApp Channel". WhatsApp.com. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  2. ^ a b "Benfica announces reaching 400,000 members". Observador (in Portuguese). 26 February 2025. Retrieved 27 February 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "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.
  4. ^ "Informe Clubes AFA 2025". informeafa.ar (in Spanish). 2026-01-28.
  5. ^ a b c d "FC Schalke 04 celebrate reaching 200,000 members". schalke04.de. 2025-09-13. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  6. ^ a b "210,000 Strong – Devils Founding Members Reach New Milestone". Tasmania Devils. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
  7. ^ "Magazin des Deutschen Alpenvereins (DAV)". www.alpenverein.de (in German). 2023-08-29. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  8. ^ a b "Renumeração do Sporting já está concluída: o número recorde de sócios apresentado pelo clube". Record (in Portuguese). 2025-06-24. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
  9. ^ a b JOGO, Redação O. (2025-12-25). "Em dia de Natal, FC Porto atinge marca dos 170 mil sócios". Jornal O JOGO (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-12-25.
  10. ^ a b "Xavi's son becomes FC Barcelona member". fcbarcelona.com. 2023-05-31. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  11. ^ "Over ons". www.ajaxlife.nl. Retrieved 2025-08-09.
  12. ^ a b "150.000 Mitglieder!". Eintracht (in German). Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  13. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  14. ^ a b "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.
  15. ^ a b "Membership". 1. FC Köln.
  16. ^ a b "Članstvo (Membership)". April 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  17. ^ a b "Rumo aos 120 mil; Veja o número de sócios do Grêmio em 2023". Grêmio News. 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  18. ^ a b "Collingwood break membership record for second consecutive year". Collingwood FC. 2024-08-04. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "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. ^ "Über 100.000 Dunkelrote!". VfB Stuttgart (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  22. ^ "Borussia Mönchengladbach | Wir sind 100.000! 💚". Borussia Mönchengladbach (in German). Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  23. ^ "Cómo hacerse socio del Real Madrid: carnet, abonos, entradas y beneficios". goal.com (in Spanish). 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  24. ^ "Transparência - Flamengo". www.flamengo.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  25. ^ "Het Legioen - De officiële supportersclub van Feyenoord - Legioen". hetlegioen.feyenoord.nl. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  26. ^ Montalvão, Tauan (2021-02-18). "Vasco divulga número de sócios em janeiro de 2021; confira". Vasco Notícias (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  27. ^ "Freiburg-Mitglieder stimmen für neue Vereinssatzung - Präsidentenamt abgeschafft". kicker (in German). Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  • "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-11-03. Wir sind 140,000 Hamburg <Instagram>
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