The innovative design of Fortuna Dusseldorf

The club set to lunch an original campaign to boost attendances at its home games: return free entry to the stadium for all fans

Fortuna Dussseldorf german historic team this year in Bundesliga 2

With 27,200 members, Fortuna Dusseldorf is the 14th largest football club in Germany, but last played in the Bundesliga between 2018 and 2020. They are currently in 6th place in Bundesliga 2, with their promotion hopes having taken wings after away defeat to Nürnberg at the weekend. Yestersay win at Karlsruher 3-2 in his stadium and it keeps in third place of Bundesliga 2.

Despite hailing from Germany's 7th largest city and the capital of its most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the club has often struggled to stand out in an area dominated by more prominent neighbors such as Borussia Dortmund , Schalke Gladbach and Cologne.

Even nearby Bayer Leverkusen, the team owned by pharmaceutical giant Bayer and with a comparatively small number of members, has more European roots.

This season's average attendance of 30,000 is the highest since Fortuna were last in the Bundesliga, but home games at the 54,600-capacity stadium - which will host matches at Euro 2024 in Germany next summer - are generally only half full.

So now the German second-tier club is set to launch an original campaign to boost attendances at its home games: return free entry to the stadium for all fans.

It looks like... a revolution against everything that modern football brings with it. Fortuna Dusseldorf, therefore, decided to offer its fans and anyone who wants, free entry to its home matches. It is an original idea with which the German club will experiment in order to fill its stadium which has a capacity of 54,600 seats.

In fact, we must mention that this year the team has an average of 29,503 spectators, and now invites anyone who wishes to go to the "Merkur-Spiel-Arena" for free, even to the away stands. The information was revealed by the same club through a letter to its partners, as announced by "Kicker". The implementation of this experiment will begin next season.

According to an internal memo distributed to sponsors and partners this week, the Fortune for All initiative will aim to: “enable all fans to watch home league games for free - whether members or for season ticket holders, whether for organized supporters, whether for regular visitors, or for away fans".

The campaign will be piloted for three games next season, according to German media, before being extended to all home matches.

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The financial plan

To make this operation viable, Fortuna seems to have planned everything from a financial point of view.

It should be noted here that ticket revenue represents on average around 15% of club revenues in Bundesliga 2. These will now be offset by a network of “strategic partners who share our belief that football belongs to the fans and who want to accompany us on our new path in the long term."

The so far undisclosed increased sponsorship revenue is to be shared. In more detail, the model includes that 50% of the revenue from the involved sponsors will go to the professional team, 40% will go to the young talents and the women's division and the remaining 10% will be used for sustainable projects and social initiatives in city and region.

The names of the sponsors who accept this plan will be revealed in the next few hours, as well as the initial budget of the club through a press conference. Some sponsors, who have already validated the feature, have committed for the next 5 years!.

Through this major operation, the Germans seek to combat the increase in ticket prices in the world of football and gradually replace ticket revenue, while improving their social connection at local and regional level. Now we just have to be patient to see what results this radical action of hers will bring...