Survey: Bayern Munich the least likable club in the Bundesliga

In a survey conducted among 4000 people across Germany, Bayern Munich was named the least liked among the 36 clubs in Germany’s 1st and 2nd Bundesliga divisions. As in other things, Bayern claimed this dubious honor with a whopping lead lead over the second-least-liked club in Germany, RB Leipzig.

The survey, an annual Fussballstudie conducted by the Technical University of Braunschweig, is part of a broad analysis of the brand strength of Bundesliga clubs. Bayern’s death grip on the Bundesliga Meisterschaft and its numerous fan clubs have not done it any favors in the eyes of supporters of other 1st and 2nd-tier clubs.

Bayern’s likability among German fans even declined by 6.54% as compared to last season, reflecting similar drops in popularity Dortmund, Werder Bremen, and Stuttgart (5.18%, 5.24%, and 6.51% respectively). While other clubs took a fall, DFB-Pokal winner Eintracht Frankfurt's likability rose by 9.02%.

Asked which clubs “were good,” German fans ranked Bayern first, followed by Dortmund and . . . Holstein Kiel! RB Leipzig came in 4th. Kiel and Dortmund led the ranking of which club played the “most attractive” soccer, where Bayern feel squarely in the middle at 17th.

The most likable club according to German fans? Pluckly little SC Freiburg.

Likability of Bundesliga clubs, in descending order, according to the Football Study 2018 conducted by Technical University of Braunschweig:

1. Freiburg
2. Kiel
3. Sandhausen
4. Regensburg
5. St. Pauli
6. Augsburg
7. Fürth
8. Gladbach
9. Union Berlin
10. Mainz
11. Köln
12. Aue
13. Hoffenheim
14. Paderborn
15. Borussia Dortmund
16. Heidenheim
17. Werder Bremen
18. Nürnberg
19. Bochum
20. Frankfurt
21. Darmstadt
22. Hannover
23. Ingolstadt
24. Duisburg
25. Bielefeld
26. Magdeburg
27. Düsseldorf
28. Wolfsburg
29. Stuttgart
30. Bayer Leverkusen
31. Hertha Berlin
32. HSV
33. Schalke 04
34. Dresden
35. Leipzig
36. Bayern Munich