Hockey is the second fastest growing sport in Germany – good news ahead of the nation hosting EuroHockey 2023.
After the pandemic saw 800,000 people left clubs across Germany, organised sport in Germany grew again by 0.17 percent in 2021, according to annual data. Last year saw 5.9% growth.
The Germany Hockey Federation says that this growth accounts the integration of hockey in schools and daycare centres, as well as higher memberships in senior and parent hockey.
“The growth in membership in the under 14 age segment is striking, especially among girls – as a result of numerous campaigns in recent years,” said the federation.
“We are actually on a steady increase, sometimes by smaller percentage points, sometimes by slightly larger percentage points,” says Maren Boyé, director of sports development in the German Hockey Association.
“We can also look positively at the fact that we are a sport that appeals to both sexes and that in the late 90s was more male and in the youth sector more appealing to boys.
“There we drove the whole thing with campaigns to open up the sport to girls, young and older women as an attractive sport.”
A close look at the numbers means that the number of hockey clubs has been declining in recent years and more and more members are gathering in fewer clubs.
The number of hockey clubs fell from 370 to 361 from 2019 to 2021.
Meanwhile, hockey has beaten football with six percent to only 1.5 percent in terms of new members.
