Hoeneß delighted by record membership roll

Every public training session at the Säbener Strasse is currently drawing an average crowd of 3,000 fans. The Allianz Arena reports that every Bayern home match in the 2012/13 Bundesliga season is already sold out. And the membership department has now announced an unbroken stream of applications to join the club. The number of registered members has topped 185,000 – a new club record!

“FC Bayern is booming in every respect,” a satisfied Uli Hoeneß told FCB.tv. “The new membership record is fantastic. What makes us specially proud is the fact we don’t even advertise for members. It takes care of itself,” the club president observed.

With a membership of 185,000, FC Bayern is far and away the biggest club in Germany, and is also on the move in the international rankings too. Of all the clubs in the world, only Lisbon giants Benfica boast a larger membership roll at 224,000. The new figures also mean Germany’s most successful club has overtaken Barcelona (170,000 members) and now rates as the second-largest on the planet.