Attendance record for German football

Article posted by Coliseum, July 26^th, 2024

Image: Signal Iduna Park, Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Fan attendances in the top two flights of German football hit a new record in the 2023-2024 season.

Sport 1 said that the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 remain immensely popular among spectators.

The German Football League (DFL) said the number of tickets sold by the 36 professional clubs in the 2023-24 season reached a total of 20,737,276 – the highest figure ever.

This exceeded the record from the previous season (19,755,465) by almost five percent. With an average of 33,885 tickets sold per match, German professional football also set a record for average attendance.

The Bundesliga achieved a total ticket sale of 11,925,726 with an average of 38,973 tickets per match.

This means that the Bundesliga remains the leader among the European top leagues in terms of average ticket sales per match in the 2023-24 season – ahead of the English Premier League and Italy’s Serie A.

The average occupancy rate of Bundesliga arenas (95.2 %) was up on the previous year’s level (92.6 %). Overall, 15 out of 18 Bundesliga clubs achieved an occupancy rate of more than 90 %.

In Bundesliga 2, total ticket sales were significantly higher than in the previous season. 8,811,550 tickets were sold which is an average of 28,796 tickets per match – the highest figure in the history of Bundesliga 2. Compared to the 2022-23 season, the figure rose by almost 30 %.

DFL CEO Marc Lenz said, “German professional football remains an absolute magnet for spectators, with people continuing to follow their clubs avidly, regardless of league affiliation,”

“In addition to the attractive and safe football experience in the stadiums, moderate ticket prices compared to the rest of Europe also contribute to this.

“These figures are a strong signal for our leagues, which further increases the anticipation for the coming season.”

As usual and as common in other leagues, the statistics are based on the number of tickets sold, including honorary and free tickets.

In the 2022-23 season, the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 exceeded the five-billion-euro mark in revenue for the first time ever. The total revenue of €5.24 billion was 9% higher than the previous record from the 2018-19 season (€4.8 billion).

The DFL said that 23 of the 36 clubs made a profit and the overall profit was €42.1 million.

Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.

Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.

Watch 380 member-exclusive videos with valuable tips for your venue