There is a law in German football that protects fans more than anyone else. It is called “50+1” and requires that professional clubs be owned, indeed for the majority of shares (hence the term 50+1), by committees whose members are the fans themselves. For the rest, the share package is available to investors, private individuals, or companies. This rule, in the minds of Germans, serves to not sell out the heart of fussball, to prevent investment funds or large foreign companies from buying teams just to profit from them. To put it in one word: final decisions must always go through the fanbase. This idea of sports business, in recent years and in some clubs, has been further “diluted”: St. Pauli and Schalke 04, in fact, have lowered the share of fan members by creating real popular shareholdings, that is, opening up to small and very small investors who can purchase shares. These initiatives have been a success, and so Hamburg has decided to do the same operation. Just a few hours ago, the HSV Supporters Trust was born, and the first feedback is astounding.
As reported by the daily newspaper Bild, in the first six hours after the launch (which took place at 10:30 on Friday, May 8), Hamburg had already raised four million euros. Just to make a comparison: Schalke 04, a few weeks ago, had sold shares of the support cooperative to members, companies, and associations, raising about 3.5 million euros in the first report after three days. One can say: the Hamburg public has definitely outdone itself.
Until May 17, only club members can subscribe to shares of the Trust. One share costs 887 euros (the 87 euros are allocated to the capital reserve). Further sales phases will then begin for subscribers (from May 18) and then for the general public (from May 28). For the launch, the cooperative has issued 18,887 shares for a total value of nearly 17 million euros (which corresponds, more or less, to 18% of the total capital). The money raised will be used to purchase shares of the professional football division separate from the club. These funds will allow for the financing of infrastructure projects for the benefit of fans. Starting this summer, just to say, work will begin on the modernization and expansion of the Volksparkstadion.
The project is unique in its kind in the Bundesliga. For the start of sales, a digital queue has been introduced, similar to that used for the pre-sale of match tickets. “The queue, at least at the beginning, will move slowly, while we verify that the entire process works smoothly for everyone,” reads the official website of the “Supporters Trust.” For the start of the open sale, in about three weeks, there is already a waiting list to which interested parties can subscribe. And several hundred people have already done so. In addition to individual fans, fan clubs and companies can also purchase shares. Okay, but what are the requirements? First, a functioning HSV-ID (an identification code issued by Hamburg) and then a signed declaration of membership. Among the founding subscribers so far are, in addition to the Vuskovic brothers, vice-captain Nicolás Capaldo and two young talents, nineteen-year-old Otto Stange and twenty-year-old Fabio Baldé.