Overview

• Three clubs—AC Niederrhein, AC Nordrhein and AC Ostwestfalen—have formed since 2024 with a combined membership in the lower double digits
• Security authorities classify the Active Clubs as a violent extreme-right network with substantial threat potential despite their small size
• Members blend health, fitness and combat sports activities with right-wing extremist ideology to attract recruits
• Clubs have already been linked to low-level offenses such as assault, trespassing and property damage while extending international extremist contacts
• CeMAS and NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul highlight the clubs as part of a larger modernization of the extremist scene and urge intensified monitoring