13 German clubs in the top 50
©IMAGO
Six of the 20 most visited football stadiums worldwide in 2024 were in Germany, while first place this time goes to an arena outside Europe. River Plate’s Mâs Monumental in the Belgrano district of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires was the most visited arena in the world with an average of 84,025 fans, replacing FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou, which is currently under renovation. The Catalans even missed the top 50 in the less popular alternative arena Olímpic Lluís Companys with an average of 41,838 spectators, where Werder Bremen placed ahead of Barça with 41,964 visitors. A total of 13 German arenas made it into the ranking of the 50 biggest spectator magnets in the world.
The fact that River Plate has shot from zero to one in our audience rating is due to the fact that since this season, clubs in Argentina have been regularly publishing official attendance figures, which are now part of the TM database. In addition to River, Boca Juniors (21st place | 55,790 spectators), CA Talleres (28th place | 51,384 spectators) and Racing Club (41st place | 44,869 spectators) also made it into the top 50.
In North America, Atlanta United once again attracts the most visitors to a football stadium with an average of 49,351 fans, placing it in 32nd place, while Beijing Guoan from Asia takes 38th place with 46,444 spectators. After clubs from the Bundesliga (7x) and the 2nd Bundesliga (6x), Premier League teams (8x) as well as representatives from LaLiga (5x) and Serie A (5x) are the most frequently represented. Teams from 13 countries are in the top 50.
Benfica with a perfect home record – weak result for Cologne & Hertha
The supporters of S04 (11th place | 61,438 spectators) or Hertha (25th place | 52,706 spectators) ensure high visitor numbers regardless of their teams’ meager points tally. At Schalke there was an average of 1.53 points for the home team, in Berlin it was only 1.35 points. The fans of Benfica (19th place | 56,635 spectators) are used to a different diet, celebrating 18 home wins in 18 league games in 2024 – despite this incredible rate, they were runners-up in 2023/24 and are currently in 3rd place.
PSV Eindhoven (81st place | 34,129 spectators) can also boast an almost flawless home record in 2024 with 2.88 points and, in contrast to Benfica, they won the championship and are currently leaders. FC Bayern ended the year with the strongest home record of the first four divisions in Germany (3rd | 75,000). Under Thomas Tuchel in the second half of the 2023/24 season and Vincent Kompany in this first half of the season, the Munich team collected 2.53 points per game at the Allianz Arena. In a global comparison of the biggest spectator magnets, the German record champions are in third place, eleventh in terms of points and 2.65 goals per home game are just enough for the top 10.
The fans of West Ham United (9th place | 62,385 spectators) were able to celebrate the fewest points, as they only scored 1.15 points per game in the almost always full London Stadium. After 2023, 1. FC Köln (31st place | 49,921 spectators) was again weak at home in 2024 with an average of 1.32 points, while the fans were ready for the top division. Little that could be counted despite a well-filled stadium – Atlanta also had an average of 1.29 points and Valencia (45th place | 42,752 spectators) had an average of 1.32 points.
BVB and FC Bayern on the podium – the 2nd Bundesliga is second to none
It has now become a tradition that FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund (2nd place | 81,365 spectators) play in front of a sold-out crowd and are always at the top of international comparisons – as is the fact that the 2nd Bundesliga is the best-attended second division in the world. In addition to Schalke, Hertha and Cologne, Hamburger SV (19th place | 55,871 spectators), 1. FC Kaiserslautern (39th place | 45,628 spectators) and Fortuna Düsseldorf (47th place | 42,320 spectators) are among the 50 largest spectators -Magnets represented. Just as often as LaLiga, if you count Barça in 51st place, and even more often than Serie A and Ligue 1 (3x). This is because hardly any other nation is so crazy about football and only in Germany do such big clubs regularly manage to establish themselves in the second division.