German clubs find secret of merchandise success

A survey carried out by PR Marketing and summarised by Soccer Investor (2 Dec) has revealed that Germany’s professional football clubs managed to lift their merchandising sales to a new high, breaking the € 100 million barrier for the first time in their history. The sales of all 36 professional clubs in 2004/05 add up to a total of € 101 million with the major share of € 87 million coming from the 18 Bundesliga teams, leaving € 14 million to second division sides.

“Three out of four Bundesliga clubs and two out of three Bundesliga II sides report growing merchandising sales while many third-division clubs and the DFB (German FA) have also increased their figures in 2004/05,” explained PR Marketing merchandising director Peter Rohlmann.

While figures in the Bundesliga were up for the fourth consecutive year, with clubs reporting that around 8% of their budget comes from merchandise sales, Bundesliga 2 clubs have now also joined the boom.

The Bundesliga is Europe’s best-attended league with an average of almost 40,000 fans per game in 2005/06, up from 37,000 last season, while the Second Division has increased numbers from around 10,000 in recent years to about 13,000 during the current campaign.