Featured image credit: St. Pauli
A landmark cooperative venture launched by German Bundesliga club St. Pauli has passed the €20m (£16.65m/$20.93m) threshold needed for fans and members to secure majority ownership of Millerntor-Stadion.
The venture launched on November 10, with St. Pauli calling it the first of its kind in world football. In February 2020, St. Pauli secured its long-term future at the Millerntor through a new usage agreement that will potentially mean it can celebrate its 200-year anniversary at the stadium.
The club, which has a wide following outside of Germany due to its political leanings and social culture, has played at the 29,500-capacity Millerntor since 1963. A new long-term contract was agreed between stadium operator Millerntorstadion Betriebs (MSB) and Hamburg authorities.
St. Pauli currently owns the stadium, but the Hamburg-based club had hoped that the cooperative scheme would raise as much as €30m, allowing for the purchase of a majority stake in the Millerntor. Football Cooperative Sankt Pauli 2024 (FCSP) is open to other parties outside of fans and members, with the subscription period for shares opening on November 10. Each share costs €850 – €750 for the share itself, plus €32 in management fees and €68 for reserves for the co-op.
After a quick take-up, which saw €13m raised after only three days, and €15m after a week, progress has since slowed somewhat, but St. Pauli has now said FCSP has broken through the €20m mark, allowing the cooperative to take control of the stadium.
More than 16,000 people have become members of FCSP, with St. Pauli stating this represents the most successful crowd investment campaign by a newly founded cooperative in German history.
President of St. Pauli, Oke Göttlich, said FCSP represents “a success story”, adding: “We are incredibly happy about the trust and the great support. In doing so, we show that a solidarity model that relies on co-determination can be successful.”
Cooperative board member, Andreas Borcherding, and Wilken Engelbracht, commercial director of St. Pauli, also pointed to the success of the scheme amid the broader economic climate. They said: “The results so far are all the more pleasing. We want to show that a different kind of football, but also a different kind of financing, is possible.”
In the wake of St. Pauli’s move, Schalke 04 last month also launched a cooperative venture which, as a first priority, intends to shore up the 2. Bundesliga club’s financial situation as well as offer control of Veltins Arena.
Meanwhile, Union Berlin this week reported that it has sold over 49,000 new shares in Stadionbetriebs AG, a holding company set up by the Bundesliga club to support the redevelopment of the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
St. Pauli has opted to extend its FCSP venture through to the end of March, in the hope of reaching the initial €30m target, with its home Bundesliga game against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on March 14 to serve as another promotional matchday for the cooperative.
Göttlich added: “In politically difficult times and in view of the rise of authoritarian ideas and populist demands, the cooperative model stands for democratic participation and shared responsibility.
“With the registered cooperative, FC St. Pauli as a registered association now has a strong sister organisation at its side that promotes and supports the association and opens up options for the future, and further projects.”
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