Fan attendances at top division matches in Germany, France and Spain "have increased for the opening games of this season compared to last," according to Paul Nicholson of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. But in Italy and France matchday attendances "have dropped," according to data from Benchmark Sports. Overall the "big five" leagues "have a combined attendance increase of 1.3%."
So far this season 11.4 million fans "have attended matches with the average number of spectators per match at 29,920." In Germany's Bundesliga the average is 43,358, a 1.3% growth on last season. In the Premier League the average is 36,460, a 1.2% growth.
The reasons "for the disparity between Germany and England is predominantly due to the higher number of stadiums with larger capacities." A table ranking the average attendances of the 98 clubs in the five leagues "shows five German clubs in the top 10 and 10 German clubs in the Top 20."
There are "five English clubs in the top 20, three Spanish and just two French." English clubs "can be expected to close the gap on the Germans over the next few years as major construction projects are completed for West Ham, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea which will see significant increases in ground capacities." The report highlights that the greatest growth season-on-season "has been the 5% seen in Spain" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 10/14).
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