Who has Bundesliga’s most hardcore fans? New analysis reveals
Borussia Dortmund fans cheer their team from the famous Yellow Wall at Signal Iduna Park.
Football fandom is built on passion, emotion and fierce loyalty, but a new analysis has revealed just how heated those emotions can become online among Bundesliga supporters.
A study published by Wettfreunde.net examined more than 130,000 comments from the Reddit communities of Bundesliga clubs to determine which fanbases were the most foul-mouthed, negative, positive and polite.
The research comes ahead of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season and offers an unusual look at how supporters communicate when discussing their clubs, players and performances online.
Borussia Dortmund supporters emerged at the top of the profanity ranking, with 14.01 per cent of comments on their subreddit containing swear words. Bayern Munich followed at 9.89 per cent, while RB Leipzig ranked third with 8.97 per cent.
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The figures placed Dortmund comfortably ahead of the other clubs examined, although the findings should not be taken as a description of every supporter. The study focused on Reddit communities, meaning it reflects the behaviour of users on those platforms rather than the entire Bundesliga fanbase.
Dortmund Lead Bundesliga Profanity Ranking
A source close to Wettfreunde.net said it analysed 130,197 comments posted between August 2025 and August 2026 across the Reddit communities of 16 Bundesliga clubs.
Researchers searched the comments for swear words in both English and German before calculating the proportion of comments containing profanity for each club.
The analysis found 12,277 comments containing swear words across the clubs included in the study. TSG Hoffenheim and SV Elversberg were left out because their Reddit communities did not have enough active comments to provide an adequate sample.
Dortmund’s 14.01 per cent figure was followed by Bayern Munich at 9.89 per cent and RB Leipzig at 8.97 per cent. 1. FC Köln came fourth with 8.80 per cent, while Borussia Mönchengladbach completed the top five at 7.91 per cent.
The gap between Dortmund and Bayern was particularly notable, with more than four percentage points separating the two clubs at the top of the ranking.
The research also showed that profanity and negativity did not necessarily go hand in hand. A comment could contain strong language without being classified as negative, while criticism could be expressed without using swear words.
That distinction became clear when the researchers examined the overall sentiment of the comments.
Werder Bremen Most Negative, Paderborn Most Positive
Werder Bremen recorded the highest percentage of negative comments, with 54.56 per cent of the comments analysed carrying a negative tone.
Bayern Munich were second at 54.08 per cent, followed by Borussia Dortmund at 52.72 per cent. RB Leipzig registered 47.44 per cent, while 1. FC Köln completed the top five with 47.01 per cent. Wettfreunde.net’s methodology and rankings
SC Paderborn produced the strongest showing on the positive side of the analysis. Their supporters’ Reddit comments recorded a positive sentiment rate of 38.03 per cent.
Bayer Leverkusen followed at 37.07 per cent, with Union Berlin third at 33.64 per cent. SC Freiburg recorded 33.28 per cent, while Borussia Mönchengladbach rounded out the top five at 31.87 per cent.
Paderborn also claimed the top spot in the politeness ranking, creating one of the most striking contrasts in the study.
Only 2.46 per cent of comments from the Paderborn subreddit contained swear words. FC Augsburg ranked second at 2.81 per cent, followed by Hamburger SV at 4.51 per cent.
SC Freiburg posted 4.66 per cent, while Eintracht Frankfurt completed the five most polite fanbases with 5.95 per cent of comments containing swear words.
A source close to the data highlighted the contrasting findings, saying the analysis found Dortmund to be the most foul-mouthed fandom while Werder Bremen recorded the highest proportion of negative comments.
“An analysis of over 130,000 fan comments from the subreddits of the Bundesliga clubs, screened for both English and German-language swear words, found Borussia Dortmund to be the most foul-mouthed Bundesliga fandom with 14.01% of their comments containing swear words, while Werder Bremen came out as the most negative fandom, with 54.56% of their comments carrying a negative tone.”
The source also pointed to Paderborn’s performance at the opposite end of the rankings.
“On the opposite end, SC Paderborn were found to be both the most positive fandom, with 38.03% of their comments carrying a positive tone, and the most polite fandom, with only 2.46% of their comments containing swear words.”
The findings provide an unusual window into the online culture surrounding German football, where supporters can react almost instantly to results, transfers, refereeing decisions and performances.
Reddit, however, represents only one corner of the Bundesliga’s enormous supporter base. Different platforms attract different audiences, while the most active users may not necessarily represent the views of the wider fanbase.
The study therefore works best as a snapshot of online supporter conversations rather than a definitive verdict on the behaviour of individual clubs’ fans.
Dortmund nevertheless have the unwanted distinction of topping the profanity table, while Paderborn have claimed bragging rights as both the most positive and most polite community in the research.
The new Bundesliga season will provide plenty of opportunities for those rankings to change. Every victory, defeat, controversial decision and transfer could generate another wave of online reactions — and potentially plenty more colourful language.
