The Bundesliga is a real financial blessing for HSV. The rise has resulted in record income and record numbers. Internally, this was not expected until 2029. The club has not lost any of its appeal despite being in the second division for seven years – on the contrary.
Even the HSV club officials are flabbergasted. Due to the return of the first division last May, the boom surrounding the former Bundesliga dinosaur has become much bigger than expected. “Sport Bild” has now revealed the numbers
There were long queues in fan shops and sports stores in Hamburg and the surrounding area, especially during Advent. The reason: The jerseys are a hit. In the 2024/25 promotion season, the club sold over 90,000 jerseys. A record that will be broken this season.
Since November, HSV has recorded an increase of 30 percent in this area compared to the previous year, and before Christmas the club experienced the most successful “Blue Week/Black Friday Week” of all time. This ensures a high income. In the previous series it was around eight million euros through jersey sales. The three most sought-after jerseys are those of striker Jean-Luc Dompé, left-back Miro Muheim and defense chief Luka Vuskovic.
HSV is discussing the expansion of the Volksparkstadion internally
HSV has not lost any of its appeal despite being in the second division for seven years from 2018 to 2025 – on the contrary. The occupancy rate in the local Volksparkstadion this season is 100 percent with 56,871 spectators. Only Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern and 1. FC Köln have always had a sold-out arena.
It is almost impossible to get tickets for HSV home games. There is internal discussion about expanding the stadium, which could increase the spectator capacity to at least 60,000. But the project is difficult to implement – and would not meet demand. The two-time European Cup winners could have sold over 100,000 tickets for the city derby against FC St. Pauli (0-2) on August 29th.
HSV occupies first place in the away team rankings, with 7,500 supporters per game supporting their team in the opposing stadiums so far in the first half of the season. The number of members rose rapidly – to 140,000. The club recorded 27,000 new registrations in 2025 alone.
The number of fan clubs has increased from 2,355 to 2,600 since August 1, 2025. On August 1, 2023, HSV had 1,560. The number of international fan clubs rose from 32 (July 2024) to 108. In comparison: northern rival Werder Bremen has a total of around 800 fan clubs nationally and abroad.
HSV is also growing immensely in the area of social media. Interactions from July 1 to the end of December were 18.6 million. That means fifth place in the league behind Bayern, Dortmund, Leverkusen and Gladbach.
When it comes to TV ratings, HSV is a spectator magnet and is once again among the top 5 in the Bundesliga. The game at Bayern (0-5) was watched by 1.45 million fans on Sky, and the derby against St. Pauli by 1.32 million. Both odds are among the best of the season so far. HSV-Netradio doubled the number of listeners to 25,518 per game.
These are all numbers that should also help HSV in marketing in order to permanently attract even larger companies as sponsors. “There is no cap on growth in this area,” said CFO Eric Huwer.
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Nevertheless, the income is already remarkable: HSV will earn between 55 and 60 million euros this season from sponsorship and hospitality, in the 2nd league it was almost 30 million. At the forefront are the European Cup participants Bayern, BVB, Frankfurt, Stuttgart as well as the two factory clubs Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg as well as RB Leipzig, who collect between 70 and over 250 million.
This shows seven years of the 2nd league. HSV concluded the large number of current contracts with sponsors as a member of the Bundesliga lower house – with first division clauses. In the next round of negotiations, the position as a Bundesliga club will be much stronger – provided they manage to stay in the league.
HSV is booming like never before. “The journey is just now really beginning,” says Huwer ambitiously. Internally, the club had not expected such figures until 2029 when Huwer took up his position as board member at the beginning of January 2023.
