Attendances - Best in Europe

[HibeeJibee]

It's some years since I last tabulated this, and I can't find the old thread, but comparison of attendances per head of population again shows how strongly Scottish football performs.

At top division level only the Faroe Islands - where 1 in 20 attend - and Cyprus, marginally ahead of us at 1 in 50 territory, see more people through the gates on a given matchday.

For the leagues overall Scotland ranks top.

Looks like our media's love affair with "dwindling attendances" and "poorly performing crowd" remains a myth.



Top division matchday attendances as % of population (2016-17 / 2017)

5.36%     Faroe Islands

1.80%     Cyprus

1.55%     Scotland

1.52%     Iceland

1.03%     Norway

1.03%     Portugal

1.01%     Netherlands

0.75%     Belgium

0.74%     Denmark

0.74%     Sweden

0.65%     England

0.60%     Spain

0.60%     Switzerland

0.59%     Montenegro

0.56%     Luxembourg

0.50%     Israel

0.46%     Germany

0.41%     Austria

0.37%     Czech Rep

0.36%     Italy

0.34%     FYR Macedonia

0.34%     Northern Ireland

0.33%     Croatia

0.33%     Slovenia

0.32%     Bosnia-Herzegovina

0.31%     Albania

0.31%     France

0.28%     Greece

0.27%     Finland

0.26%     Serbia

0.22%     Slovakia

0.20%     Poland

0.19%     Eire

0.17%     Belarus

0.16%     Bulgaria

0.16%     Hungary

0.14%     Georgia

0.13%     Kazakhstan

0.12%     Turkey

0.11%     Estonia

0.11%     Moldova

0.10%     Romania

0.09%     Latvia

0.08%     Azerbaijan

0.07%     Lithuania

0.06%     Russia

0.06%     Ukraine

0.06%     Wales

0.05%     Armenia

 

No figures for Andorra, Gibraltar, Kosovo, Malta, San Marino

League system matchday attendances as % of population (2016-17 / 2017)

2.11%     Scotland

2.07%     Iceland

1.37%     Norway

1.36%     England

1.33%     Netherlands

1.15%     Portugal

1.08%     Sweden

0.92%     Denmark

0.92%     Spain

0.89%     Belgium

0.87%     Switzerland

0.84%     Germany

0.61%     Austria

0.60%     Italy

0.56%     Israel

0.51%     Czech Rep

0.45%     France

0.44%     Bosnia-Herzegovina

0.42%     Slovakia

0.38%     Slovenia

0.37%     Croatia

0.35%     Finland

0.33%     Serbia

0.28%     Poland

0.23%     Eire

0.23%     Hungary

0.21%     Belarus

0.19%     Bulgaria

0.19%     Georgia

0.17%     Estonia

0.15%     Kazakhstan

0.14%     Romania

0.13%     Latvia

0.12%     Lithuania

0.10%     Russia

0.10%     Ukraine

0.10%     Wales

[The Saintee]

Hope you've tweeted some journos and pundits.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

You should probably adjust the figures to take into account border hopping teams like Swansea, certainlynotlondonderry and Berwick

Excluding them won’t make a big difference to France’s totalsbut Monaco do get attendances of roughly a quarter of the principality’s population

[The_Kincardine]

10 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

It's some years since I last tabulated this, and I can't find the old thread, but comparison of attendances per head of population again shows how strongly Scottish football performs.

At top division level only the Faroe Islands - where 1 in 20 attend - and Cyprus, marginally ahead of us at 1 in 50 territory, see more people through the gates on a given matchday.

For the leagues overall Scotland ranks top.

Looks like our media's love affair with "dwindling attendances" and "poorly performing crowd" remains a myth.



Top division matchday attendances as % of population (2016-17 / 2017)

 

0.34%     Northern Ireland

 

Excellent work, HJ.  

The proportion of people from NI who watch football is much higher than this - they just don't watch it in TFS

[HibeeJibee]

Top division league averages - not % by population. This finds us placed 7th ahead of sizeable countries like Portugal, Russia, Belgium and Turkey.
 

41,516     Germany

35,809     England

27,950     Spain

22,047     Italy

20,963     France

19,086     Netherlands

14,001     Scotland

11,838     Portugal

11,333     Russia

10,748     Belgium

10,313     Turkey

  9,944     Switzerland

  9,622     Poland

  9,127     Sweden

  7,037     Austria

  6,970     Norway

  6,250     Israel

  6,024     Denmark

  4,887     Czech Rep

  4,262     Ukraine

  3,931     Greece

  3,899     Kazakhstan

  2,950     Romania

  2,750     Croatia

  2,695     Hungary

  2,550     Finland

  2,301     Serbia

  2,249     Cyprus

  2,016     Azerbaijan

  1,973     Slovakia

  1,971     Bosnia-Herzegovina

  1,795     Albania

  1,638     Bulgaria

  1,481     Belarus

  1,455     Eire

  1,381     Slovenia

  1,339     FYR Macedonia

  1,074     Northern Ireland

     975     Iceland

     743     Moldova

     643     Georgia

     610     Montenegro

     540     Armenia

     528     Faroe Islands

     493     Lithuania

     452     Luxembourg

     389     Latvia

     308     Wales

     248     Estonia

 

No figures for Andorra, Gibraltar, Kosovo, Malta, San Marino

[HibeeJibee]

Top division gross attendances for a full season. (I’ve only considered the top 20 leagues from the ranking of top division averages).

 

13,607,420     England

12,703,896     Germany

10,621,000     Spain

  8,377,860     Italy

  7,965,940     France

  5,840,316     Netherlands

  3,622,428     Portugal

  3,439,360     Belgium

  3,192,228     Scotland

  3,155,778     Turkey

  2,848,112     Poland

  2,719,920     Russia

  2,190,480     Sweden

  1,789,920     Switzerland

  1,672,800     Norway

  1,575,000     Israel

  1,518,048     Denmark

  1,266,660     Austria

  1,172,880     Czech Rep

     818,304     Ukraine

[SilverWolfe]

@HibeeJibee How do you get to the 1.55% and 2.11%?

I have my own analysis that I update quite regularly, so would be good to see your figures for comparison.

Edit: Also wondering what source(s) you use for attendance figures? I keep my own for Scottish Football so interested in your overseas sources?

[Pie Of The Month]

^ ^ ^ AgentScotland

[Elixir]

This is all well and good, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't take away from the fact that most of the diddies struggling to get 2,000 through the gates each week is utterly tinpot.

[sjc]

4 minutes ago, Elixir said:

This is all well and good, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't take away from the fact that most of the diddies struggling to get 2,000 through the gates each week isn't utterly tinpot.

Says the guy that doesn't attend Hearts matches in a tiny teared tantrum protest against the very woman that saved the Holding Company! 

[Monkey Tennis]

20 minutes ago, Elixir said:

This is all well and good, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't take away from the fact that most of the diddies struggling to get 2,000 through the gates each week isn't utterly tinpot.

I'd agree.

The fact that some sides - not many in the top flight, mind you - struggle to get 2,000 through the gates, isn't utterly tinpot.  I'd agree too that HJ's figures don't take away from the fact that such a thing isn't utterly tinpot.

[SilverWolfe]

9 minutes ago, Elixir said:

This is all well and good, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't take away from the fact that most of the diddies struggling to get 2,000 through the gates each week isn't utterly tinpot.

 I guess 80%+ of nations in Europe are tinpot then. We had 19 teams averaging over 2,000 last season.

Pretty sure there are only 10 nations in Europe that have more.

 

[jamamafegan]

This is all well and good, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't take away from the fact that most of the diddies struggling to get 2,000 through the gates each week isn't utterly tinpot.

Agree. These stats mean nothing and it’s nothing to be proud of.

I’m a St Johnstone fan [emoji6] and I went to the home game against Hearts the other week. The football on show was abysmal. It ended 0-0. I paid 23 quid and the crowd was around 4200.

Back in April I paid one pound more for my ticket to Everton vs Hull. Goodson Park was sold out just under 40,000 and I watch world class footballers on the pitch like Lukaku play. He scored twice.

Somebody here tell me why it makes sense that I should pay 23 quid to watch St Johnstone play shite football in a half empty stadium when if I pay a wee bit more (travel/accom included) I can see so much more and have a top weekend at the same time?

Prices for premiership games must come down. Clubs will argue they can’t do that because they need to break even. I say something has to change because if you think I’ll be jumping at the opportunity to go to McDiarmid to see shite Saints play some other shite team, you can think again.

[RossDee01]

Agree. These stats mean nothing and it’s nothing to be proud of.

I’m a St Johnstone fan [emoji6] and I went to the home game against Hearts the other week. The football on show was abysmal. It ended 0-0. I paid 23 quid and the crowd was around 4200.

Back in April I paid one pound more for my ticket to Everton vs Hull. Goodson Park was sold out just under 40,000 and I watch world class footballers on the pitch like Lukaku play. He scored twice.

Somebody here tell me why it makes sense that I should pay 23 quid to watch St Johnstone play shite football in a half empty stadium when if I pay a wee bit more (travel/accom included) I can see so much more and have a top weekend at the same time?

Prices for premiership games must come down. Clubs will argue they can’t do that because they need to break even. I say something has to change because if you think I’ll be jumping at the opportunity to go to McDiarmid to see shite Saints play some other shite team, you can think again.

£23 was a fucking bargain yesterday at McDiarmid.

[jamamafegan]

Everton v Hull - World Class Footballers?
Plural? 

I get you but the point stands. I would pay 23 quid for an away game less reluctantly because you get a proper day out. f**k paying 23 quid to sit in McDiarmid surrounded by empty seats. Doesn’t matter if we win, it’s still boring as hell.

£23 was a fucking bargain yesterday at McDiarmid.

You’re a mug.

[BFTD]

Things like this just make me angry these days. Every time some useless pundit or journalist trots out the armageddon shite, they should be strapped down and subject to a spittle-flecked, statistics-backed rant from HJ until they're forced to admit their own utter incompetence live on air. How dare they claim to be supporters of our game when they bend over backwards to denigrate it at every opportunity.

That c**t Brazil needs an apple shoved in his mouth and a good spitroast if he ever pretends to know anything about Scotland again.

[RandomGuy.]

Jamamafegan helpfully highlighting the issue Scottish clubs have trying to attract fans. Comparing St Johnstone to a club who spent over £100m this Summer is genuinely one of the most fucking stupid things I've ever seen in here.

If you're only following football to see the best players in the world, you'd be aswell sitting at home watching Soccer Saturday, as St Johnstone isn't for you.

[BFTD]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

If you're only following football to see the best players in the world, you'd be aswell sitting at home watching Soccer Saturday, as St Johnstone isn't for you.

We miss Stevie May too, m9.

[SilverWolfe]

15 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

Somebody here tell me why it makes sense that I should pay 23 quid to watch St Johnstone play shite football in a half empty stadium when if I pay a wee bit more (travel/accom included) I can see so much more and have a top weekend at the same time?

Prices for premiership games must come down. Clubs will argue they can’t do that because they need to break even. I say something has to change because if you think I’ll be jumping at the opportunity to go to McDiarmid to see shite Saints play some other shite team, you can think again.

 

 

Its £23, not £200. Your club need to charge prices like that because gate receipts are your main revenue stream. If you want a team that can challenge in the Premiership then that's the cost.

Everton can charge the same because gate receipts are fairly immaterial to their revenue.

I never get the moans about paying £25 or thereabouts for a ticket to go to the football. Its nothing, people pay a lot more to go to other sporting events or music events etc

Personally, I think £23 is fair enough and I wouldn't waste one second of my life going to a game down south even if the ticket/ travel/ accommodation was all free.

 

 

[Tibbermoresaint]

A quick peek at Everton's website shows a minimum adult ticket price of £38 for their 2 home fixtures at the end of this month.