HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — St. Pauli supporters have raised over 27 million euros (29.1 million) for a majority stake in the club's stadium after taking part in German soccer's first fan cooperative.
The Hamburg-based club said Tuesday more than 21,000 people joined the fundraising cooperative after its near five-month subscription period ended at a minute to midnight the night before.
St. Pauli said there had been a “huge rush” of people buying shares to be part-owners of the Millerntor Stadium in the final hours.
They each spent 850 euros ($917) for each share they bought, with 100 euros ($108) of that going on fees and contributions. Each purchase entered the buyer in a draw for prizes including a dinner with team captain Jackson Irvine, VIP packages, signed jerseys and more.
Bayern Munich powerbroker Uli Hoeness, who organized a benefit game for St. Pauli in 2003 when the club was in financial difficulty, was among the new stakeholders buying shares.
“The cooperative will open up new possibilities for FC St. Pauli,” commercial director Wilken Engelbracht said. ”By acquiring a majority stake in the stadium, the club will be able to reduce its financial liabilities much quicker than planned.”
The cooperative’s board of directors still has to process outstanding orders and review the figures before acquiring the majority stake in the stadium. The final results of the subscription phase and the next steps are to be presented to members in May, with the cooperative’s first general meeting scheduled for June.
St. Pauli was promoted back to the Bundesliga as second-division champion last season. The team is currently three points clear of the relegation zone with seven rounds remaining.
“We now want to use the momentum from the subscription phase to achieve our next big goal, and to achieve Bundesliga survival,” club president Oke Göttlich said.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
St. Pauli fans celebrate their team's victory following a Bundesliga soccer match against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Friday, March 14, 2025, in Hamburg, Germany. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Galileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
