With roughly 3.5 billion fans worldwide, football is undoubtedly one of the most popular sports. So, it is no surprise that matches played in major soccer leagues count their spectators in tens of thousands. Still, one European football league sits on top of that pile.
According to data presented by SportsLens.com, Bundesliga had the highest average attendance of all European football leagues, with an average of over 43,000 fans flocking to the stadiums to watch the matches in the 2022/23 season.
Bundesliga Tops Premier League with Roughly 2,600 More Fans Watching the Matches
Although Premier League, the world’s most successful sports league, continues leading other major European football leagues in revenue, the matches played by the English top-flight clubs were not the most watched.
According to Statista and Weltfussball.de data, Bundesliga outpaced Premier League, with roughly 2,600 more fans flocking to the stadiums to watch the live action every weekend. Premier League ranked second with an average attendance of 40,301 in the 2022/2023 season. Statistics also show that England’s and German top football leagues were the only two with more than 40,000 fans watching the matches.
Far below, the Italian Serie A ranked third with an average attendance of roughly 29,500 last season. Spain’s Primera División, French Ligue 1, and Mexican Primera División followed, with an average of 29,400, 23,600, and 22,500 fans watching the matches, respectively.
Statistics also showed the average attendance of Major League Soccer in North America stood at less than 22,000.
Bundesliga has Higher Average Attendance than MLB, NBA and NHL
The average attendance of the German top football league is even more impressive when compared to other sports. Statistics show that Bundesliga average attendance is 60% higher than MLB’s and more than double that of the NBA and NHL.
Major League Baseball saw an average of 26,808 fans watching the matches in the 2022/23 season. NBA and NHL were lagging behind, with roughly 17,900 and 16,800 fans at each game.
NFL still tops the list of the most-watched sports, with an average attendance of nearly 69,400 last season.