FC St. Pauli Cooperative: Probably the most unusual financing model in the Bundesliga

The plans of the Bundesliga football club FC St. Pauli for the planned cooperative for its members are becoming more concrete. With the unusual model in football, the club will reduce debt and invest in infrastructure. “For us, the most important thing is that we can quickly pay off the club’s debts completely,” said commercial director Wilken Engelbracht to the “Hamburger Abendblatt”.

In concrete terms, it will work like this: supporters of the club can buy a share for 850 euros, but of course also several. All participating members of the cooperative will then have a vote in future decisions, regardless of the number of shares purchased. There will be a savings model for low-income people. The shareholders will also share in any profits. At the beginning, the cooperative will buy a share in the stadium, and every paying fan involved will become a co-owner. However, this does not mean that there is a right to a seat at a home game.

“We are breaking new ground here”

A market research survey had previously gauged the fans’ willingness. The Millerntor Stadium in particular is to benefit from the planned 25 to 35 million euros. “We want to repay the loan for the stadium early. This has a volume of around 15 million euros. “We want to use the remaining funds to repay the Corona loans,” said Engelbracht.

“We are breaking new ground here because we don’t just want to complain about the forms of football financing driven by traditional investors, but want to show an alternative,” said Engelbracht. The cooperative “Fußballgenossenschaft St. Pauli eG” was founded on April 1st. The club will then actively approach fans and push the project forward.