St. Pauli fans chip in over $29 million through cooperative to buy majority stake in stadium

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — St. Pauli supporters have raised over 27 million euros (29.1 million) for a majority stake in the club's stadium after taking part in German soccer's first fan cooperative.

The Hamburg-based club said Tuesday more than 21,000 people joined the fundraising cooperative after its near five-month subscription period ended at a minute to midnight the night before.

St. Pauli said there had been a “huge rush” of people buying shares to be part-owners of the Millerntor Stadium in the final hours.

They each spent 850 euros ($917) for each share they bought, with 100 euros ($108) of that going on fees and contributions. Each purchase entered the buyer in a draw for prizes including a dinner with team captain Jackson Irvine, VIP packages, signed jerseys and more.

Bayern Munich powerbroker Uli Hoeness, who organized a benefit game for St. Pauli in 2003 when the club was in financial difficulty, was among the new stakeholders buying shares.

“The cooperative will open up new possibilities for FC St. Pauli,” commercial director Wilken Engelbracht said. ”By acquiring a majority stake in the stadium, the club will be able to reduce its financial liabilities much quicker than planned.”

The cooperative’s board of directors still has to process outstanding orders and review the figures before acquiring the majority stake in the stadium. The final results of the subscription phase and the next steps are to be presented to members in May, with the cooperative’s first general meeting scheduled for June.

St. Pauli was promoted back to the Bundesliga as second-division champion last season. The team is currently three points clear of the relegation zone with seven rounds remaining.

“We now want to use the momentum from the subscription phase to achieve our next big goal, and to achieve Bundesliga survival,” club president Oke Göttlich said.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer