Although many were disappointed by attendances in the Championship, current season ticket sales indicate near-sellouts for every Premier League home game at Cardiff City Stadium. Thanks to Aston Villa slipping up against Fulham in the playoff final, City are likely to be the 10th best supported side in the top flight. Also, based on last year’s figures, City will also beat the crowds at all other Championship clubs.
So with City ranking 10th in the English league system, how do they compare with the rest of Europe and which clubs are they most like? We crunched the numbers and can reveal that Cardiff City look likely to be the 49th best supported team Europe’s top divisions for 2018/19.
http://gty.im/955324680
For the purpose of this exercise we are assuming that no one’s crowds will go down because none of these teams are coming off a relegation, but in reality some clubs will of course see attendances dip.
First off, only nine UEFA leagues have a team that can boast crowds of over 33,000 each week. One of these is Scotland, where Celtic and Rangers both comfortably surpass it. Meaning that Cardiff will be the UK’s 12th best supported club. Not too shabby.
http://gty.im/869742134
The league with the best crowds in Europe is Germany’s Bundesliga. The average attendance there is a whopping 44,646 (dwarfing the Premier League’s record-breaking 38,495 last year). We expect 12 clubs in the top German league to have higher crowds than City next season. There are also a couple in Bundesliga 2 that could potentially beat City, but that requires too much guesswork on falling attendances and we’d rather focus on top flight clubs only.
Over in Spain’s La Liga, seven clubs are likely to beat City’s crowds but the other 13 will be nowhere near. Sevilla, Spain’s seventh best supported team, are likely to be very close to Cardiff, thanks to an average of 33,067.
http://gty.im/949666344
Italy’s Serie A has six ahead of City. We’ve put Lazio ahead of Cardiff, but it’s almost neck and neck. Last year they drew 32,947 per game, very close to what is expected at the CCS.
There are a trio of clubs in France’s Ligue 1 who will surpass City’s attendance but Lille, France’s fourth-best-supported club, aren’t too far off thanks to their crowds of 31,453.
There are another three in the Netherlands’ Eredivise, but City will be very close to league winners PSV’s 33,344.
Portugal’s Primeira Liga has yet another ‘big three’ ahead of CCFC, but like France and the Netherlands, there is a big drop off after the top big clubs.
Turkey is known for its passionate crowds but only two teams in the SüperLig can expect to top Cardiff City’s attendances. And of that pair, Fenerbahçe isn’t that far ahead, with its crowds of 34,710.
We finish with Russia’s Premier Liga. Here, only Zenit St Petersburg will beat City’s crowds at the CCS, although Spartak Moscow aren’t too far behind with 30,189.
So totting all those up leaves us with a total of 48 top-flight teams across Europe likely to have higher crowds that City – a huge achievement for the club. Being on a par with the likes of giants such as Lazio, Sevilla and PSV would’ve felt like a pipe dream a few years back.
The next step? Cracking the European top 50 in terms of performance…
Featured image: Jon Candy