List of fan-owned sports teams

This list of fan-owned sports teams includes professional and semi-professional teams solely owned by fans/supporters, either via a collective organisation or where the assumption of majority ownership by a small group is prohibited by the club's constitution or governing documents. In some cases, the line is blurry between these teams and teams whose ownership is publicly traded. Teams playing at every level in each country are shown, and are sorted by home country.
All association football clubs in Argentina are owned by their members. Every club is organised as not-for-profit organization according to Argentinian law (asociación civil sin fines de lucro).
There are a few privately owned teams such as Crucero del Norte.
All football clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina are registered as not-for-profit associations of citizens. However, in practice, only one club allows its members to democratically participate and vote in its General Assembly.
Although since 1993 Brazilian law allows for privately owned sport clubs, most of the hundreds of professional association football clubs in Brazil are owned by their members as not-for-profit organizations. These include many of the traditionally considered 12 major clubs in the country:
In Germany, majority control by a single entity (person or company) is not permitted by the Deutsche Fußball Liga, and this is consistent with German law. The law requires a registered club shall have at least seven members when it is founded. The German Football Association requires in its statutes that either a club, or a limited company which is controlled by a club with 50% + 1 vote, can get a licence to participate in the German first or second league. In the lower leagues, it is required to be a club.
An exception to the 50+1 rule allows a company or individual investor that has substantially funded a club for at least 20 years to gain a controlling stake in that club. This exception most notably applies to Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg. Both were founded as sports clubs for employees of major corporations (respectively Bayer and Volkswagen) long before the 50+1 rule was established. More recently, SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp has gained control of 1899 Hoffenheim—where he had been a youth player—after having funded the club's rise from the lowest reaches of German football to the Bundesliga.
RB Leipzig have been accused of bypassing the law through legal loopholes, essentially not being fan-owned and undermining the system.
Shares of Borussia Dortmund, a German Bundesliga Club, are traded on the German stock market and are largely held by fans.
TC Freisenbruch, a club which was founded in Essen in 1902, is managed completely by the fans. The team currently plays in the ninth division of the German football league. Since July 2016, the club is managed via a webpage, where the fans can make their decisions about, for example, the starting line-up or the prices for the jersey.
All association football clubs in Norway are owned by their members.
Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting CP football teams are also fan owned through a SAD for football as far as the club remains the owner of a majority of the SAD's stock. Some legal provisions are made to guarantee that in any case, the club have the last word on any major changes in the club and its SAD.
In Spain, most professional clubs in the top two tiers have been converted to public limited sports companies (sociedad anónima deportiva, or SAD). However, four clubs have thus far resisted such a legal restructuring:
Many teams in the third tier and below are structured as members' clubs. However, a movement known as "popular football" (fútbol popular) began in 2007, consisting of clubs "that want to return to the democratic, social and community roots of the sport." As of February 2021, there are 19 such clubs:
All sports clubs in Sweden are owned by its members. The Swedish Sports Confederation allows clubs to create limited companies together with investors as long as the club controls a majority of the votes.
FC Luzern - Established in 1901. In 2023, a group of fans founded the association "FCL-Basis" and this association, which is open to all fans for membership, acquired 10% of the shares of FC Luzern-Innerschweiz AG for the amount of CHF 1 million. Just a few months after its foundation, "FCL-Basis" already has more than 1,300 members, all of whom now effectively own part of the club. In addition to various veto rights, "FCL-Basis" is also guaranteed a seat on the Board of Directors of FC Luzern-Innerschweiz AG.
Chester F.C. is in the England section
AFL:
These clubs all operate sides in the AFL Women's league.
Division One
Division Two
NRL:
RFL: