December 4 – FC Bayern Munich is the world’s biggest club if you take into account membership numbers only. Portugal’s Benfica comes second, followed by FC Barcelona, Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund.
Membership is defined as supporters who pay a fee to join the club. 250,000 Bayern fans pay either €60 if they are an adult fan or €30 if they are a junior or over 65 (there is a special price of €40 for ‘young adults’ – 17-25 year olds).
Assuming a 50/50 split between adult and junior members, the club generates €11.25 million from the scheme.
Bayern reported the figures at its annual general meeting last week. This time last year Bayern, with 217,000 registered members, lagged behind Benfica with 224,000.
In comparison FC Barcelona have about 177,000 members while German rivals Schalke 04 have 130,000 and Borussia Dortmund less than half the Bayern total at 115,000.
At Bayern’s AGM the club’s chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge talked about a possible contract extension for coach Pep Guardiola saying: “Pep has a contract until the summer of 2016. I do know that he is not a man who attaches great importance to extend his contract early. That’s why I’m not going to annoy him.”
Rummenigge hopes that Guardiola will come naturally to him regarding an extension of the employment contract at the Säbener road. “Whenever he wants to extend, we are ready,” said the Bayern boss.
Click on the video to watch the SPORT1 interview with Rummenigge.