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Manchester United’s iconic home, Old Trafford, has lost its number one ranking for the world’s most attended stadium in 2023.
A report published by Transfermarkt revealed that Barcelona’s stadium – Camp Nou – occupied the top spot.
The La Liga giants witnessed an incredible average home league attendance of 83,273 spectators.
As per Transfermarkt, “The top 16 places on the list unsurprisingly go to European clubs, three of which come from Germany and no less than three come from London specifically.”
“The highest ranked club outside of Europe was Flamengo, who sat 17th with an average attendance of 56,689 fans in 2023.”
“The country with the most clubs is none other than Germany, which had 12 clubs across its two top divisions featured in the top 55 clubs of 2023 by average attendances.”
England had eleven outfits featured in the top 55 clubs. Spain had seven while Italy had six.
After Barca’s Camp Nou, second on the list of world’s most attended stadium in 2023 was Signal Iduna Park – home of Borussia Dortmund, with an average attendance of 81,312.
Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena rounded off the top three with a yearly average 75,003 fans thronging the venue.
United was ranked at fourth position. The Red Devils were the highest ranked English club with an average of 73,586.
Other Premier League teams were West Ham in sixth position (62,575), Tottenham Hotspur in ninth (61,566), Arsenal in 12th (60,199) and finally Manchester City in 20th (53,305).
Unless attendances drop significantly at those clubs with bigger capacities, United will only ever be able to gain the top spot if the stadium is redeveloped or rebuilt.
New minority investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to inject close to £300 million to start that process, but it has been estimated that it could take up to £20 billion to complete a full rebuild.
