Global law firm Dentons has advised FC St. Pauli, a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, on the establishment of a cooperative and related regulatory issues. FC St. Pauli is the first club in professional soccer to rely on a new approach to secure the future financing of the club: fans and members can participate in the “Football Cooperative St. Pauli” (FCSP eG) by acquiring shares in the cooperative. As co-owners of the club and the club’s Millerntor Stadium, they receive voting rights and thus have a say in the strategic and economic development of the club. Each member receives only one vote, regardless of how many shares are purchased. The subscription period is expected to run until January 2025.

The FCSP eG acts as the majority shareholder in the “Millerntor Stadium Operating Company”. In the future, the members will decide via the cooperative model what should be done with the rental income and other revenues generated from the use of the stadium. It is planned to initially transfer approximately 60% of the stadium into the ownership of the cooperative.

Drawing on their many years of experience in capital markets and financial regulatory law, a Dentons team led by Frankfurt partners Robert Michels and Dr. Kai Goretzky provided comprehensive corporate, financial market regulatory, and capital markets advice to FC St. Pauli on the establishment and structuring of the sale of the cooperative shares.