Germany/DFB: 2.27 million licence holders in 2023-24 & a 7.5% increase in number of players under 16

The number of active licence-holders in Germany reached 2.27 million in 2023-24, a slight increase on the figure for 2022-23 (2.25 million), according to the Deutscher Fussball Bund on 03/07/2024.

"While the number of adult men playing organised football has fallen slightly (from 967,500 to 963,000), the trend among 15 to 18-year-olds is on the up. 320,000 boys are playing in this age group, which is 2.8% more than in the previous year. The figure for boys under 15 is just under 783,000 (+1.2%). The strongest increase is in the female sector. Almost 107,000 girls aged 16 and under laced up their football boots this season - an increase of 7.5%," explained the DFB.

"For the first time in more than 20 years, more people started refereeing in German football during the course of a season than stopped. The number of newly trained referees (10,900) rose by 22%. The number of those who left (10,300) fell by around 11% compared to the previous year. In total, almost 58,500 referees officiated around 1.34 million matches in the 2023-24 season, which is 8% more active referees than in the…