Ten fascinating facts about Germany’s sports scene
From football via rock climbing through to surfing: the German sports club landscape is extremely diverse.
Johannes Göbel Sporting activities take many forms in Germany. Here are ten facts that reflect the great diversity that is typical of the German sports scene.
Record: The German Olympic Sports Confederation (Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund, DOSB) has 29.3 million members, this is a new record high.
A huge community: There are just under 86,000 sports clubs in Germany with an average of 300 members each.
Football nation Germany: Close to 24,000 clubs are part of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB), making it not only Germany’s but in fact the world’s biggest sports association.
The biggest clubs are part of the mountaineering association German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein, DAV), with an average of 4,300 members per club.
Size isn’t everything: The smallest clubs can be found in the German Darts Association (Deutscher Dart-Verband, DDV) where each club has just seven members on average.
Close-knit network: There are around 100 sports clubs per 100,000 citizens in Germany.
Active south: Baden-Württemberg is the federal state with the liveliest sports scene. 38 percent of the state’s population are members of sports clubs, followed closely by the Saarland with 37 percent, Hesse with 36 percent, and Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate with 35 percent each.
Young and active: 85 percent of boys between 7 and 14 and 64 percent of girls in the same age group are members of sports clubs, making this age group the most active one in organised sports in Germany.
Traditional: The gymnastics federation Hamburger Turnerschaft was established in 1816 and is considered Germany’s oldest sports club. Alongside gymnastics, the club offers close to 20 other disciplines, such as capoeira and flag football.
Trend sport: Surfing is among Germany’s youngest disciplines offered by sports clubs. There are currently around a dozen surfing clubs in Germany. The trend is rising though, as there are some 500,000 people in Germany who surf on a regular basis.
