Official Press Release
Information in this section taken from the German Federation for Historical Fencing (DDHF): https://ddhf.de/information-for-international-audience/
The DDHF was founded on 21 June 2014 in Melsungen and is based in Kassel. In August 2025, the non-profit federation comprised 97 member groups with 4135 fencers in 121 locations across Germany. The size of the member groups – predominantly registered clubs, but also commercial schools and interest groups – ranges from under ten to over three hundred fencers. More than half of all HEMA groups and at least 65% of all HEMA fencers in Germany are represented in the DDHF. The locations of the DDHF groups can be viewed here.
Between 2019 and 2021, there was a slight decline in the number of individual members. During this period, two HEMA censuses showed that the DDHF represented around 55% of all registered fencers in Germany. In the 2025 census, it was 80% of the recorded fencers and 64% of the estimated fencers, including those who did not take part in the census. This overall development, but also the growth in membership of the federation, shows once again that interest and enthusiasm for historical fencing is constantly growing. We believe that the efforts of the DDHF play a supporting role in this and that they have contributed to the positive development and growing interest in historical fencing in Germany.
It is encouraging to see how joint efforts and co-operation within the community are bearing fruit and strengthening the tradition of historical fencing.
The growth in the federation’s membership 2023 is due on the one hand to the new members since the beginning of 2022 – 22 new fencing groups – but also to a huge increase of 432 individual members within the older member groups.
In 2024, overall growth fell slightly to around 9%, which is not due to a reduction in new members, but to a higher loss of members than usual. The most likely explanation for this is the growth in 2023, which also results in a higher departure rate in 2024.
In 2025, growth rose again to 19%, which roughly corresponds to 2022 and 2023. The growth of the existing member groups is also at a similar level with 422 individual members. It is now important to retain the new members, otherwise a slight slump in growth would be expected again in 2026.
HEMA and Olympic Fencing
According to the raw numbers, HEMA is on the rise but is still relatively small. Currently, MOF (Modern Olympic Fencing) in Germany has over 23,000 members, while the DDHF (German Federation for Historical Fencing) broke the 4,000 mark this year. However, approximately half of MOF members are under 18 and many are over 60. Therefore, HEMA and MOF currently have very different age demographics.
Unfortunately, we have no data on the specific age composition of HEMA in Germany; only this year we have a youth quota of 5.36%. A more interesting comparison is therefore with the MOF age groups 18-40 and 18-60. These are also the age groups that supply most of the active contributors, i.e., coaches and officials. Since HEMA has so far offered very little youth training, this is where we have the greatest growth potential.
It is remarkable that in this age range we are very close to MOF. The initial declines are probably attributable to Covid. While in HEMA, it was primarily commercial schools that immediately suffered a loss in members, it is common in registered clubs (e.V.) for membership to end at the next calendar year. Accordingly, we see an extremely sharp decline in the MOF 41-60 age group, delayed by a year. The 18-40 age group, on the other hand, remained relatively stable. This is further evidence that HEMA and MOF (18-40) likely share significant commonalities here, as the registered clubs in HEMA also recorded hardly any membership losses due to Covid.
After Covid, a great deal was done nationwide to get people back into sports. This work is paying off in 2024, except in the MOF male 15-18 age group, where numbers continue to decline steadily. Ukrainian refugees also often join sports and martial arts clubs, thereby boosting membership numbers. From my perspective (in Judo, where some clubs nearly doubled in membership), this is often the case in the eastern part of Germany, where we have many Russian-speaking coaches, which makes integration easier. I can only speculate whether this is also the case with MOF (fencing).
What can we conclude from this? HEMA is larger than one might suspect, HEMA has much in common with MOF (ages 18-40), probably due to a similar age structure. And HEMA has enormous growth potential, once we start offering youth training and once we also have an upper age structure extending to 80 years.
Being a Recognized Sport in Germany
If you want to access state funding, gain access to sports halls, and have an official coach training program in Germany, you must be affiliated with the DOSB (German Olympic Sports Confederation). The public club structure finds its highest administrative body in the DOSB. To become a member, you must either have been designated as an Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee for the next Games, or you must demonstrate 10,000 members (plus a huge stack of organizational groundwork). Consequently, there are some sports that are smaller than HEMA and still receive public funding, such as speed skating, ski-bob, curling, or surfing. The DDHF is striving for membership in the DOSB; the only viable path appears to be through membership numbers.
HEMA Practitioners Worldwide
One could now take the numbers from Germany and compare them with the international HEMA Ratings database to calculate a worldwide number of practitioners. This approach has already been attempted by the DDHF and concluded that this method does not yield a good result. Comparative data from Sweden, Austria, and France shows that this calculation cannot be made so easily, as the ratio of HEMA practitioners to tournament participants differs from country to country.
Nevertheless, it would be interesting to put more work into this question and perhaps arrive at a more stable formula. After the next IFHEMA council election, Paul Hofmann wants to form a statistics team to get to the bottom of such questions. If you are interested in this, please contact Paul Hofmann. (paul.hofmann [at] ddhf.de)
