Old best value from the 2nd matchday
© Imago
Seven teams fight for the promotion, twelve teams worry about relegation and only for Viktoria Köln in eighth place does not seem to go up or down. This tension and the many traditional clubs ensure a fan rank in the 3rd league. For the second time this season, the audience record was broken for a match day. It was only on the 2nd matchday that the record from 2016 was increased with 122,524 people to 134,170 – it only withstanded until last weekend. 150,045 football enthusiasts flocked to the stadiums on the 30th matchday and for the first time in the single -track third division ensured an average of over 15,000 visitors per game.
With 30,267, most fans came to the Rudolf Harbig Stadium to see the encounter between Dynamo Dresden and Wehen Wiesbaden (2-0). The SGD broke the 30,000 spectators per home game for the fifth time this season, only Alemannia Aachen can keep up with three games. 25,313 people saw the 0-0 at the duel of Hansa Rostock with the 1st FC Saarbrücken and also with Arminia Bielefeld against Hannover 96 II, more than 20,000 tickets were sold. VfB Stuttgart II and SV Sandhausen ensured the slightest backdrop – only 1,134 fans looked at the basement duel.
Ten teams have an audience average of over 10,000 in the current season and ensure that eight of the ten most visited match days come from the current season. So far, a total of 3.38 million people have come to the respective stages – this corresponds to 11,315 per game. The previous best value dates from last season, in which an average of 9,939 fans were at the games of the 3rd league. In the Europe -wide comparison, only the League One can keep up, in which almost 10,000 visitors are there per game. The 3rd league has clearly overtaken the Bundesliga in Austria, which has a visitor cut from 8.068 this season.
This positive development of recent years has also been financially noticeable, as the 2023/24 season report shows. The income of the 18 clubs (without the second representatives) rose by 24.3 percent compared to the previous season. For the first time since the introduction of the 3rd division, no club had a liquidity gap during the season. “Things develop in the right direction. Many clubs in the 3rd league are now significantly better positioned than a few years ago. This clearly shows that the clubs have set themselves better and better on the 3rd division and do a good job,” said DFB Vice President Peter Frymuth in the association’s own interview.