The German Football Association (DFB) has published its official membership statistics for the 2025–2026 season. These show that girls’ and youth soccer in Germany continues to gain momentum. Positive trends are also continuing among referees and in player development.

The number of DFB memberships rose again—to 8.2 million. Following last year’s historic milestone of surpassing the eight-million mark, this positive trend is continuing. Since 2022, German soccer has gained more than 1.1 million memberships.

Nationwide Trends Also Visible in Berlin

The positive trends regarding referees and female members are also evident in Berlin. For example, the BFV registered 1,132 referees in the 2025–2026 season, representing a 2.35 percent increase over the previous year. Particularly encouraging is the growth in female members (women and girls), whose numbers rose from 30,962 in the previous season to a new record high of 38,624 (a 24.75 percent increase). Women over the age of 32 accounted for the largest share of this growth (3,957 new memberships), driven in part by the introduction of the Women’s Over-35 League and the fan base of Berlin’s professional teams; but new registrations for girls have also risen significantly in youth soccer (408 new memberships for G-Junior girls, 267 new memberships for F-Junior girls).

Despite the areas of growth outlined above, the total number of BFV members fell slightly compared to the previous season, by 1.39 percent to 241,911 in 2025/2026. The number of active players also declined slightly by 0.81 percent, but remained at a very high level at 58,982. This decline is attributable to the changed membership fee model, under which fees for clubs are no longer calculated per team but per member, and which prompted numerous clubs to clean up their databases. In the 2025/2026 season, 347 clubs were registered with the BFV (no change from the previous year), and the number of teams rose by 3.8 percent to 4,128.

For complete statistics on Berlin

Bernd Schultz, President of the Berlin Soccer Association, says: “Women’s and girls’ soccer in Berlin still has great potential for growth. However, the number of new registrations and the recent successes of Berlin’s three professional clubs show that we are on the right track. The renewed growth in the number of referees also demonstrates that our measures to recruit and retain dedicated individuals are working. At the same time, we are seeing a decline—albeit a slight one—in total membership and the number of active players. Even though this is partly due to the circumstances surrounding the adjustment of the membership fee model, we take it seriously and are working to improve the conditions for soccer in Berlin. That is why we recently approached the capital’s democratic parties with demands regarding sports policy.”