The DFB - the world’s largest sports association

The German Football Association (DFB) has more than 7.7 million members (as of the beginning of 2025) and as such is the world’s largest sports association:  

The DFB is made up of five regional associations and 21 state associations, to which around 24,000 clubs belong. 

135,292 teamsplay in the DFB leagues: 38,189 men’s teams, 13,658 junior teams for 14- to 18-year-olds, and 74,292 youth teams for the under-14s. There are 4,317 women’s teams and 4,836 teams of girls aged 16 or under (as of 2023). 

The men’s national team has won the World Cup four times (in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014) and the European Championship three times (in 1972, 1980 and 1996). 

The women’s national team has scooped two World Cup titles (in 2003 and 2007) and won eight European Championships.  

A fun fact: one of the 15 most clicked-on people on the DFB’s website is a Pole - the others being nine members of the German women’s team and five members of the German men’s team. Robert Lewandowski, formerly a star player at Bayern Munich, has joined this elite group.  

Each year, around 1.34 million matchesare played at roughly 45,000 sports grounds.  

Integration is an issue that the DFB takes very seriously, even in the lowest amateur ranks. There are more than 700 clubs whose names indicate the nationality of their founders but which welcome people of any ethnicity. At least 20 percent of the DFB’s members say that they are of migrant background. 

A fun fact: Twelve players with the surname Kurtanovic are members of DJK Flörsheim’s men’s B team. They are brothers, cousins, uncles.  

The DFB clubs with the most members are FC Bayern Munich, which is the world’s largest sports club with 382,000 members, ahead of Borussia Dortmund (218,500, world’s number 5) and second Bundesliga team Schalke 04 (190,400, world’s number 6).