SOCIOS.COM DELVES INTO FOOTBALL FANDOM IN GERMANY

Last year, we commissioned Nielsen Sports & Entertainment to provide an in-depth look at football fandom in 6 key markets — Brazil, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. We wanted to understand the potential for Socios.com amongst football fans, but we also wanted to take a closer look at the football landscape including how fans interact with their clubs. We surveyed 2793 football fans in total (448 in Germany), all of whom support a football team.

Here we take a look at the findings from the Germany, a football loving nation which has won four FIFA World Cups, and is the joint second most successful nation in the tournament only surpassed by Brazil.

This football loving nation is reflected in the numbers with 64% of the entire population interested in the game.

Interestingly, out of all countries interviewed, 35% of German fans said that the game was their favorite sport, making it the lowest percentage of all the markets, however, 46% of fans said that it was in their top ⅔ sports.

When it comes to engagement, more than 90% of fans in the six markets looked into engaging with football through watching it on TV, while fans under the age of 45 are significantly more likely to attend live football matches.

More specifically, in Germany, 62% of German fans said that they prefer to watch the game TV, while 31% said they prefer to attend stadia.

In terms of support for clubs, 74% of German fans said that they support one club above all others, while the top five favorite clubs are:

Fans aged between 16 and 34 across all six markets are more likely to engage with their clubs through team pages, across both Facebook and Instagram. 25% of German fans use social media to get club news, while 39% use it to get scores and results.

When it comes to following the football clubs, 42% of German fans said they showed support by talking to friends or relatives about their favorite club, while 21% went to a match at a bar or pub and 26% went to stadia.

In terms of club perceptions, 49% of German fans believe the primary role of a football club is to keep fans happy and 52% believe their only goal should be to win trophies. Almost a quarter believe that clubs could engage with them on other platforms and 84% believe new technology could improve the fan experience. Almost three quarters believe clubs focus too much on making money and 65% of fans believe clubs could engage better by keeping ticket prices stable.

When asked how much they were willing to spend on fan tokens to be given the right to vote on club decisions, German fans said they would spend €12.

However, despite their passion, 19% of fans felt alienated by their club and 25% felt that their views were not valued. 20% believe fans should be given more autonomy and there’s demand for fans to have more influence over club decisions — 39% of respondents.