Un-BVB-lievable: Poll says Borussia Dortmund are more popular than Bayern Munich

There is no doubt that Bayern Munich is the most successful club in the history of the Tottenham Bundesliga. A five-time Champions League winner and winner of the Bundesliga a record 31 times (they won a national league title in 1932 before the league was founded in 1962-63, so the historical record is 32), surely you can’t go wrong with Bayern in Germany.

But a report from Abendzeitung said that SLC Management conducted a poll on who is the most popular club in Germany, and the results don’t point towards Bayern, but rather their league rivals Borussia Dortmund.

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

The Nuremberg-based company surveyed 30,000 people which is something they’ve done since 2014. They used 18 criteria such as who has more club members, number of fan clubs, and PR pull (TV broadcasts and social media followers), club’s image, and attractiveness.

“We define the term in more detail with a unique approach of market orientation. In a pre-test, 6,500 people interested in soccer throughout Germany were asked representatively how popularity is made up from the fan and customer perspective and which criteria are relevant for assessing the popularity of a club,” someone from the company said.

Dortmund came first for the first time since the study began while Bayern sulk at second place. Borussia Mönchengladbach slipped from third to fourth behind Eintracht Frankfurt. Fifth in the rankings is FC Köln, who made the biggest leap forward in absolute points, while Hertha Berlin take the L as they fall from eighth place to 15th place.