The world-famous ‘Yellow Wall’ at Borussia Dortmund’s WestfalenstadionFootball is all about its fans. The beautiful game as we know it is driven by the passion and dedication of the fans for their sides. In today’s global setting, clubs have moved on from being local entities and have expanded their fan bases all over the world. With the top European clubs entertaining millions of die-hard supporters based in the furthest corners of the globe, has the importance of home based fans decreased of late?In a nutshell, the significance of supporters turning up to back their respective teams, week-in week-out, can never be ignored. When the so called global clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich play at home we already know of the millions of hopes and expectations working behind them from afar. But what use is the boundless passion of millions in a stadium full of empty seats? No matter how big the global presence of a club is, without the physical manifestation of the support through the local fans, twitter followers and Facebook likes on official club pages is worth as much as a Rolls-Royce in the middle of an ocean.We do acknowledge that average attendance of any football club is hardly a yardstick to measure the dedication of a club’s local support. Factors like Stadium capacity plays a detrimental factor and there’s also the presence of a handful of away fans to consider.Hence, this is just the list of the top 10 European clubs when it comes to the average attendance per match during 2013/14. However, some of the names here just might surprise you.
#11 Clubs ranked 30 to 11
Here are the clubs that did not make the Top 10 but made it to the Top 30 in Europe. Among the clubs ranked 11 to 30, five clubs each from the EPL and Bundesliga make it to the list. Three clubs in this list have an average attendance of just over 50,000 but it is not enough to make it to the Top 10.
| Rank | Club | Average Attendance in 2013/14 | Country | Rank in 2012/13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Ajax | 50,905 | Netherlands | 10 |
| 12 | VfB Stuttgart | 50,500 | Germany | 11 |
| 13 | Newcastle | 50,395 | England | 9 |
| 14 | Manchester City | 47,075 | England | 14 |
| 15 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 47,055 | Germany | 13 |
| 16 | Celtic FC | 46,810 | Scotland | 15 |
| 17 | FC Internazionale | 46,245 | Italy | 16 |
| Atletico Madrid | 46,245 | Spain | 22 | |
| 19 | FC Koln | 46,235 | Germany | 30 |
| 20 | Feyenoord | 45,755 | Netherlands | 19 |
| 21 | Hannover 96 | 45,635 | Germany | 21 |
| 22 | PSG | 45,420 | France | 24 |
| 23 | Liverpool | 44,670 | England | 20 |
| 24 | Benfica | 43,615 | Portugal | 26 |
| 25 | Rangers | 42,935 | Scotland | 18 |
| 26 | Chelsea | 41,480 | England | 28 |
| 27 | Sunderland | 41,090 | England | 33 |
| 28 | Werder Bremen | 40,655 | Germany | 31 |
| 29 | Napoli | 40,630 | Italy | 37 |
| 30 | AS Roma | 40,435 | Italy | 35 |
#10 Hamburg SV
Stadium: Imtech Arena
Capacity: 57,274
Average Attendance: 51,825
Hamburg SV has the distinction of being the only team to have played in the Bundesliga in every single edition since its inception in 1963. And they have continuously played in the top tier of German football post-World War I.
Often known as the ‘Dinosaur’ for their unique feat, the club came really close to getting relegated in the 2013/14 season and narrowly escaped after defeating SpVgg Greuther Fürth on away goals in a playoff.
Hamburg SV fans are as loyal as they come and have the option to be buried at a dedicated graveyard near the home stadium, covered in turf from the original Hamburg pitch.
#9 Hertha BSC
Stadium: Olympiastadion Berlin
Capacity: 77,166
Average Attendance: 51,890
Hertha BSC plays in the second biggest stadium in Germany after Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park. Their home ground, Olympiastadion Berlin, is perhaps the most famous venue in Germany with huge historical significance.
Hertha has made the Olympiastadion their home since 1963, and the last five years have seen a roller coaster ride for the fans with Hertha getting relegated from the Bundesliga twice. However, the club gained immediate promotion to the top division after becoming champions of the second division on both occasions.
#8 Borussia Monchengladbach
Stadium: Borussia-Park
Capacity: 54,057
Average Attendance: 52,240
Borussia Mönchengladbach is currently the fifth largest club in Germany with over 60,000 active members based on the numbers from September 2013. The club moved base to Borussia Park only in 2004 after being based out of a much smaller Bökelbergstadion since 1919.
2013/14 was a great season for Borussia Mönchengladbach, finishing in sixth place in the league. The club also earned a Europa League spot through a playoff.
#7 Arsenal
Stadium: Emirates Stadium
Capacity: 60,272
Average Attendance: 60,015
Despite being a club with history and trophies, being an Arsenal fan lately hasn’t been a walk in the park. The Gooners, however, have been loyal as ever and were duly rewarded last year with an FA Cup, the Gunners’ first trophy in nine years.
The fans will be hoping their patience reaps rewards and the team can use the FA Cup success as a stepping stone to emulate great things achieved by the famous ‘Invincibles’ side of 2003/04.
#6 Schalke 04
Stadium: Veltins-Arena
Capacity: 78,966 / 61,673 (League capacity)
Average Attendance: 61,570
Yet another German club makes the Top 10. Schalke have seen near-full attendance in all its matches last season. After Russian oil giants Gazprom became the club’s new sponsors in 2006, the club has enjoyed a time of prosperity and success.
Schalke has established itself as a regular top four finisher in the Bundesliga lately and the club is based on the principles of heavy fan engagement. In fact, a supporter representative enjoys a permanent seat on the club's supervisory board, a body that can veto transfers worth more than €300,000.
#5 Bayern Munich
Stadium: Allianz Arena
Capacity: 71,137
Average Attendance: 71,000
Bayern Munich is quite simply put Germany’s most successful team in history. With Dortmund as their main rivals, the only thing Bayern’s fans would hate more than losing to Dortmund is to be outdone by their fans.
Bayern fans are accustomed to success. And the likes of Pep Guardiola coaching one of the most exciting young sides assembled in modern football does help draw in the crowds. Munich has seemed invincible in the Bundesliga lately too, winning the last two league titles with relative ease and are well on course for a third this season.
Watching the likes of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben tearing down defences is definitely worth every cent of the ticket price.
#4 Real Madrid
Stadium: Santiago Bernabeu
Capacity: 81,044
Average Attendance: 71,565
Real Madrid are a club that can boast of a phenomenal global presence. Being arguably the most successful club in the history of the game, Real also prides itself in its fanatical support at its home in Madrid.
With Real’s ‘Galacticos’ model of recruiting players, fans’ expectations are bound to skyrocket and you can always count on the Bernabeu faithful when it comes to letting the team know what they expect.
For Madridistas, winning trophies is as essential as breathing in oxygen. Nothing less will do.
#3 Barcelona
Stadium: Camp Nou
Capacity: 98,787
Average Attendance: 72,115
With the motto “Mes Que en club” (More than a club), Barcelona has become a larger-than-life symbol for its football crazy Catalan fans. Barcelona enjoys a dedicated following in Catalonia and around the world.
The Camp Nou boasts some of the most entertaining players in world football today and does record a very respectable footfall every match. But the average attendance leaves a lot to be desired considering the fact that it is the biggest stadium in Europe.
However, the dismal economic conditions in Spain might be a deterrent to fans attending matches where ticket prices are generally on the higher side.
#2 Manchester United
Stadium: Old Trafford
Capacity: 75,731
Average Attendance: 75,205
It has been a difficult couple of seasons for the mighty Red Devils. After the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of the 2012/13 season, the most successful club in English football endured a terrible season and finished seventh in the Premier League.
However, the downturn in the fortunes never hindered the fans from filling up the stands even when the team was playing uninspiring football. Popularly called the Theatre of Dreams, Old Trafford has been in the top three stadiums in terms of match day attendance in Europe since 2002. United is one of the most widely followed clubs in the world due to the success and drama associated with the club's long history.
Despite the bumps and uncertainty associated with the club in transition, the belief is still strong with the supporters back in Manchester and worldwide.
#1 Borussia Dortmund
Stadium: Signal Iduna Park
Capacity: 80,700
Average Attendance: 80,295
A small piece of history to start off with – when Dortmund reached the 2013 Champions League final at Wembley, the club received 502,567 applications for 24,042 tickets which were made available for the club. The entire population of the city of Dortmund is 580,956.
Dortmund has only recently started to garner some form of following globally, largely due to their entertaining brand of football. However, anyone attributing their record turnovers at home to the size of the stadium is grossly wrong. If anything, the 80,700 capacity stadium is too small for the fanatical support the German team enjoys in their hometown.
The famous club slogan “Echte liebe” (true love) says it all.
