This week’s attendance facts:

• The regular MLS season has ended, and it has been a good one. Attendances have gone up with 5.6% to an average of 18,807 per match. This is how the MLS compares to the European leagues.

• Most of the clubs saw increases in attendances, though a few went down. The Seattle Sounders came out on top with an average of 43,104 people at CenturyLink Field. We will dedicate a complete article to the attendances in the MLS in the upcoming week.
• The Galician derby between Celta de Viga and Deportivo de la Coruña was played for a full Estadio de Balaídos. Normally just under 20,000 people show up at a Celta match, but the match against their rivals filled all 31,000 seats.
• Atlético de Madrid’s attendances are also slowly creeping up, likely due to their excellent performance in the league so far. They are averaging about 5,000 spectators more than at this stage last year, and their average of 44,000 is third-highest in the league.
• On contrast, Palermo fans have absolutely no interest in their team this season. Despite a well-attended first match against Napoli, their average has since dropped to just under 15,000, which is more than 4,000 lower than their average of last season. Last night, only just over 12,000 people showed up for the match versus Milan, who are no shabby opponents.
• We earlier mentioned the lack of sold out matches in Holland, but there is one province that is the exception, which is Overijssel. The three Eredivisie clubs from the area, FC Twente, Heracles Almelo, and PEC Zwolle, are the only three teams that can boast an occupancy rate of over 97%.

Weekly attendance facts

This week’s attendance facts include:

• After eight playing rounds, we can conclude that both the average attendance of the Serie A and the Primera División have hardly moved in comparison with last season.
• The Premier League records a higher average though, while that of the Bundesliga has gone down. This is mainly a function of the new entrants having higher or lower averages than the relegated clubs.
• With only one more playing round to go in the US Major League Soccer, it is almost time to write the overview. We can already tell that this year almost 40% of all matches sold out.
• The Ukrainian Premier League is currently recording very healthy attendances. On average 13,000 people make it to the stadium every match, though the difference is large between the clubs.
• In particular, Shakhtar’s attendances are excellent. They have thus far attracted an average of 43,889 spectators per match, which would rank them 23rd in Europe.
• We recently analysed which clubs draw the largest crowds away from home, and Brazil is one of those countries where the opponent very much determines the home crowd.
• For example, a few weeks ago Atlético Goianiense drew almost 24,000 to Estádio Serra Dourada when Flamengo came to visit, but only 176 people paid to see them play Internacionál a few weeks later.

Weekly attendance facts

This week’s attendance facts:

• There were a few clásicos around Europe last weekend, but while the one in Camp Nou predictably sold out, AC Milan was not able to fill San Siro for the derby with Inter. Despite a last sales push, the attendance of 73,736 fell short of a full house.
• In Mexico, in the meantime, a similar number of people (app. 73,000) made the trip to Estadio Azteca to attend the Súperclasico between América and Chivas.
• Much was made of the 66,452 people that attended the Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers match at CenturyLink Field, the second-highest regular league attendance in the history of the MLS. But is it really that surprising for a club that consistently sells almost 40,000 tickets per match, that has a good season, and then gets their main rival to visit? Seattle is at the point that you can expect such attendance, which is a compliment for the club, of course.
• Attendances in Brazil’s Série A have been edging up lately to more respectable levels. In particular, rivals Palmeiras and São Paulo have seen attendances increase, and in that respect the 34,941 that showed up at Morumbi for the derby between the two may have been somewhat disappointing. Especially as prices had been reduced to a very reasonable R$10.00 (USD 5.00).
• The average attendance of the Championship and 2. Bundesliga are little apart, 16,964 vs 16,499, but are composed very differently.
• The lowest average in the Championship is just under 10,000 (Peterborough) and the highest about 25,000 (Sheffield Wednesday). In contrast, the lowest average in the 2. Bundesliga is 4,000 (Sandhausen), six more clubs record averages of under 10,000, but there are also four that have averages of 30,000 or more. 1. FC Köln leads the ranking with an average of 33,525.

Weekly attendance facts

This week’s attendances facts:

• The Sevillanos (at least the ones supporting Sevilla) got a lot more excited about last weekend’s visit of Barcelona than they got when Madrid came to town a few weeks ago. They completely packed Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán last Saturday, while almost 15,000 seats were left unsold for the Madrid match.
• What is going on in Rennes? Just two seasons ago their attendances averaged almost 24,000, last season they dropped to just over 20,000, and this season they are not even averaging 18,000, despite attractive matches versus Lille and the derby versus Lorient. Perhaps this weekend’s win versus Lille can bring back some of the crowds?
• The Eredivisie clubs have stopped selling out. In the last two seasons they sold out about 40% of all matches, but this has dropped to under 20% this season. Averages are still acceptable, but many clubs seem to have problems selling the tickets that have not been taken up by season ticket holders.
• Various Japanese clubs play their home matches at a relatively small stadium, but move to a larger one for their high-profile matches. That Urawa Reds are Japan’s most popular clubs is proven by the fact that this almost always happens when they come to visit, already 5 times this season.
• Krasnodar failed to get selected as a host city for the 2018 World Cup, which is a shame, as FC Kuban has thus far the second-highest attendances of the Russian Premier League. They average 19,727 spectators per match at Stadion Kuban so far, and only get beaten by FC Zenit.

Weekly attendance facts

This week’s attendance facts come a little later than normal to include the mid-week fixtures:

• We witnessed some surprisingly low attendances in the Bundesliga mid-week fixtures. Both Augsburg’s (25,211) and Stuttgart’s (41,720) attendance were their lowest in more than a year, and Schalke (59,116) and Hannover (36,200) only had one lower last season. Fürth furthermore did not sell out the small Trolli Arena, and Mainz has not yet reached the 30,000 mark this season, something they did on every occasion last season.
• But when there is succes, people come. Eintracht completely filled the Commerzbank-Arena for their home fixture versus Dortmund, and in the 2. Bundesliga the Berliners are starting to really get behind Hertha. Their home crowd of 45,747 would not have been out of place in the Bundesliga. Köln’s average of 33,525 this season is also not too shabby, despite their poor results.
• Just 4,204 people paid to see AC Milan play Cagliari on Wednesday. Add to these the season tickets (though quite a few stayed at home) and one gets an attendance of 28,000, which is about a third lower than Milan’s lowest attendances in the last few seasons. Let’s hope their first win at home brings back the crowds.
• We saw a similar poor attendance at Genoa (just 17,000), but Fiorentina managed to sell out Stadio Artemio Franchi for their home fixture versus Juventus.
• The Championship provided a perfect test this week to see if mid-week fixtures attract fewer crowds than weekend fixtures. We could do this because the exact same teams first had a mid-week home match and then one on the weekend. The weekend fixtures averaged 16,411 spectators per match, whereas this was only 15,004 mid-week, so a clear difference. Nine of the twelve clubs recorded higher attendances on the weekend.
• The MLS shows similar differences between mid-week and weekend fixtures, best expressed by the fickle crowds of the New York Red Bulls. While having a very decent season, a mere 10,286 fans showed up for the interesting match versus league leaders Sporting Kansas City, their poorest crowd this season.

Weekly attendance facts

The week’s attendances facts:

• Reading, Southampton, and West Ham replaced Blackburn, Bolton, and Wolves in the Premier League this year, and the result is a steep increase of the PL’s occupancy rate. The three new teams all (close to) sell out their home matches, with the consequence that now 95% of all available tickets in the PL gets sold.
• Torino recorded the second sell out crowd of the Serie A this season. The first was a full house at Pescara, and both times Inter were the guests.
• Saint-Etienne opened the new Kop Nord stand this weekend, and fans were excited. The attendance of 25,500 was about 20% higher than those of their first two home matches, and would have been the second highest of last season’s attendances (the home match against Lyon naturally unbeatable).
• The regular season of the Major League Soccer is nearing its end, and the average attendances is currently a solid 18,496 visitors per match.
• It is striking though that the four teams with the lowest averages are playing at homes that were not built for them. These are the New England Revolution, Chivas USA (The Home Depot Center was built for the LA Galaxy), DC United, and San Jose Earthquakes.
• It has to be said though, that the Earthquakes did sell out most of their matches. It is just that they play at Buck Shaw Stadium, the smallest in the league.
• The hope was that attendances in the Polish Ekstraklasa would get a boost of the Euro 2012 tournament as the common Polish would flock to the stadium, but no such thing has happened. Over the first four playing rounds the average league attendance has remained steady at about 8,700 spectators per match.

Weekly attendance facts

This week’s attendances facts:

• The first two playing rounds of the Bundesliga suggest that the league’s attendances won’t be breaking any records this year. The average is down 4,000, though this is more due to the new entrants than the remaining teams.
• Things should pick up though once Fortuna Düsseldorf can use the full capacity of the ESPRIT arena (which was reduced as a punishment for last season’s crowd trouble) and once Frankfurt’s fans flock to the Commerzbank-Arena to celebrate the team’s good start.
• That Dortmund has become a real big team was highlighted by the fact that they were able to sell out Stadion Nürnberg, something only Bayern managed to do last year. And that while the recently renamed stadium (the easyCredit sponsorship deal expired) saw its capacity increased with another 1,500 places.
• Serie A averages are thus far at about the same level as last year’s, though both Milan clubs disappointed. They both reported much lower season ticket sales, only 36,288 people showed up at Milan’s home match last week, and just 43,385 people made the journey to San Siro to see Inter play the interesting fixture against AS Roma.
• Ligue 1’s attendances keep tumbling, and particularly disappointing were the mere 32,707 people that came to see Lille play against Paris Saint-Germain, only just over the number of season tickets sold. Has Grand Stade Lille Métropole not lived up to expectations?
• Only a few years ago, the English Championship was the world’s fifth best-attended league, but has in the meantime been passed by the Dutch Eredivisie, Ligue 1, the MLS, and the J-League. Still, the current average of 17,160 is still something most top flight leagues would kill for.
• Promoted Sheffield Wednesday leads the ranking over two home games, closely followed by Brighton & Hove Albion, who continue to pack The Amex even after its expansion. Both average slightly more than 25,000 over their first two home games.

Weekly attendance facts

All of Europe’s major leagues have now kicked off, with the Bundesliga and Serie A being the last of the pack:

• Little can be made yet of the first Bundesliga attendances. Newcomer Greuther Fürth started with a sell-out, but then every club does when Bayern comes to visit.
• The other promoted team, Eintracht Frankfurt, disappointed though with a mere 27,950 people showing up at the Commerzbank-Arena, more than 10,000 less than their lowest number when they were last in the Bundesliga two years ago.
• Enthusiasm was also going high in Pescara before their match against Inter. All 20,476 available tickets for the match at Stadio Adriatico were sold. 
• AS Roma fans in turn got excited about the return of Zdeněk Zeman. An estimated 50,000 packed Stadio Olimpico for their first home fixture versus Catania, more than at any other match last season.
• In the Primera División both Getafe and Osasuna disappointed with crowds of 8,000 and 15,691 in their home matches against Real Madrid and Barcelona. Could it be that asking €50.00 and €90.00 for the cheapest ticket is keeping people at home?

Weekly attendance facts

Last weekend saw the Premier League and Primera División kick off. We all know the scores, but how about the attendances?

• Last season, the Premier League clubs sold almost 92% of all tickets. With Blackburn and Bolton gone one expects this to improve, and if the first round is any indication, this is surely set to come true. Over 96% of all tickets were sold and seven of the ten matches sold out. The Premier League is sure off to a flying start.
• Thank god there is always Wigan to spoil the fun a little, because it was the only club to lag somewhat behind with an attendance of 19,738 for their match against Chelsea. This filled only 79% of the DW Stadium.
• Last season, Barcelona and Madrid battled out a fierce battle on who would end up with the highest average attendances, which was in the end just won by Madrid. There was no contest last weekend, as the Madrileños clearly seem to be going more positive into the season than their rivals from Barcelona. A total of 74,000 people came to the Bernabéu, while only 57,721 paid to enter Camp Nou.
• In the French Ligue 1, Lille sold out the opening of their new home, but apart from that there was few that impressed in Ligue 1, and the average got no further than 18,832 after two rounds, which is almost 1,000 lower than last season.
• Attendances in the Dutch Eredivisie have been equally dreadful as 7 of the 16 teams recorded a lower attendance in their first home match than their lowest over the whole of last season. The average has been held up though by reasonable attendances of the big clubs, resulting in an average of 18,761 over the first two rounds.

Weekly attendance facts

This weekend saw the French Ligue 1 and Dutch Eredivisie kick off the 2012/13 season:

• Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s league debut could not fill the Parc des Princes though. A total of 38,102 Parisiens found their way to the stadium, far below last season‘s average. Of course, many French are still celebrating the summer holidays.
• Newly promoted Troyes will likely also hope that attendances will pick up once their fans get back from holiday. Only 10,602 people paid to see the club return to the top league, while their Stade de l’Aube can hold almost double.
• Stade de Reims did manage to sell out on their return to Ligue 1, but Reims fans of course had to wait 33 years for top-flight football and had Marseille entertaining the occasion.
• The Dutch Eredivisie is traditionally off to a slow start and made no exception this season. Particularly disappointing were the attendances of Heerenveen (20,000) and Roda JC (11,855), who both recorded lower than their lowest attendance last season.
• FC Utrecht’s attendance of 18,084 was also much lower than usual when Feyenoord visit Stadion Galgenwaard.
• There were quite a few derbies across the globe this weekend. No sell out for Chivas USA though, as 17,601 saw their club surrender to LA Galaxy.
• At the other end of the planet, 18,578 people witnessed the Japanese derby between Gamba and Cerezo Osaka, the largest attendance of Gamba Osake this season.
• In Russia, 23,567 spectators watched home side Kuban Krasnodar beat neighbours FC Krasnodar, but also no sell out of Stadion Kuban, which can hold about a third more.

Weekly attendance facts