In a significant step for supporter ownership in European football, fans of FC St. Pauli have come together to establish a cooperative to take ownership of their home stadium, the Millerntor-Stadion. In Spring 2025, we spoke with Miriam Wolframm, a board member of the St. Pauli Cooperative, about how the initiative came about, and what it means for the club’s future.
UPDATE: In November 2025, the cooperative successfully acquired the majority shareholding in the club’s stadium.
What was the situation?
“The idea of founding a cooperative has existed in St. Pauli since 2019. The football cooperative St. Pauli is a perfect model for a club like ours. It is democratic, it’s participatory, it’s fair, and fans and members are directly involved. The principle that one member has one vote applies, regardless of how many shares (in the cooperative) a person owns. This means that financial wealth does not influence the decision-making power of the people.”
“Compared to the alternatives, like outsourcing the professional team, bringing investors in, or selling merchandising rights, raising capital through a cooperative is a much more transparent and relatable solution for us. In fact, the question I get most of the time is, why hasn’t anyone else done this before?”
“For all of us, for me, it was never about football. It was more about values and about belonging and solidarity, and the right to have a say in what happens to something we love. With the cooperative, it was the perfect fit, for my point of view, for the perfect club.”
What did the supporters want?
“Everyone is welcome in our cooperative. While of course we appeal to St. Pauli members and fans, the cooperative is open to football fans everywhere and to anyone who shares our values or wants to be part of something truly new, pioneering. After all, we are the first professional club in Germany who tried this, and that’s really exciting.”
“The 50+1 rule is a great foundation in Germany, but it can be fragile, especially under economic pressure. The cooperative takes the spirit of 50+1 and makes it stronger. It gives fans and members a permanent stake. This is a different structure of ownership, and it’s a lot harder to get rid of this compared to the 50+1 rule.”
“The Bundesliga is not a fair playing field. The distribution of TV money is incredibly unfair, especially for a club like us, newly promoted to the Bundesliga. That creates a lot of pressure to commercialise. The cooperative helps us resist that. We are building financial independence through the fans, from the stands, with solidarity.”
“There are other projects we are planning too, like changing the turf into a hybrid turf so more teams from our club could be able to play in our stadium, maybe the women’s team or our U23. We want to give our club the possibility to develop on our terms and in our timing.”
“In a league like the Bundesliga, that’s really not easy. But with our nearly €30 million raised, we’ve given St. Pauli the possibility to set a good infrastructure base and more financial freedom to invest in sporting success.”
What was the outcome?
“The football cooperative is a completely separate entity. But to be honest, I think most of our members are also club members. When we looked on the map at where people who signed up in the first weeks live, it was really nearly all around our stadium. So it was really the people who live and love this club who gave their money to us. That makes it much more like a love story.”
“To be honest, the response has been overwhelming, from the media, from the football world, but especially from our members and supporters. When we announced our members-only kick-off event last September, 800 people signed up to attend in person within an hour. We had to close the guest list. Over 2,000 joined the livestream. More than 20,000 people signed up for our newsletter to stay informed.”
“Founding a cooperative is not easy, especially in Germany. There are a lot of regulations, and this could scare people off. But it is worth it. It’s the best solution for our club, and I think it could fit every other club as well.”
“We also have a saving plan model, especially for young members. More than 1,500 people have joined that way. This was really cool, especially for the younger ones.”
“There are some more German clubs who’ve asked for information about the cooperative. Schalke launched theirs in December, and they’re in the final stages now. We hope many more clubs will follow.”
“Our dream and our vision are that the cooperative becomes a long-term guardian of St. Pauli’s identity. That it keeps the club rooted in its values.”
“It empowers St. Pauli to compete on its own terms, without compromising our values or selling our soul.”
“I think it could work in every club, because every club has a community. And where there’s a community, there’s the potential for democratic ownership.”
“The cooperative is not just about ownership, it’s about dialogue, transparency, and shared responsibility. And that’s what makes it so strong and valuable for clubs and for fans.”
FSE would like to thank Miriam Wolframm and FC St. Pauli for taking part in the interview.