Attendances In First Seven Weeks Of Frauen Bundesliga Surpasses Entire Previous Season

The legacy of the success of UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 continues to be felt throughout Europe as the German Football Association (DFB) today announced the cumulative attendance figures for the first seven matchdays of the Frauen Bundesliga have already surpassed those for the entire previous season.

With under a third of the season played, an aggregate of 119,286 spectators have gone through the turnstiles up and down the country which is already greater than the 108,483 fans who attended matches in the whole of the previous campaign when 22 rounds of matches were played, a total of 132 games. Previously the record for a Frauen Bundesliga season was set in the 2017/18 season when an aggregate of 111,717 spectators attended matches throughout the season, this has now also been surpassed.

In 2017/18, the average attendance for Frauen Bundesliga matches over the course of the season was 846, slightly higher than last season’s average of 804. Already in this campaign, that record mean average has more than tripled to 2,840 per match. This is close to the record average attendance in the English Women’s Super League of 3,072 set in the pre-pandemic season of 2019/20.

One of the reasons for this sharp increase has been the increased prevalence of the top games being played at the club’s main stadiums. The first game of the season between Eintracht Frauen and FC Bayern Munich, the second and third-placed teams, pulled in a league record crowd of 23,200 to the 51,500-capacity Deutchse Bank Park in Frankfurt.

This was almost matched two weeks ago when league leaders, VfL Wolfsburg, hosted FC Bayern at the club’s main 30-000-capacity Volkswagen Arena. 21,287 attended the match which was a new home league record for the reigning champions. Fourth-placed TSG Hoffenheim also set a new record when 7,109 fans saw their home match against Wolfsburg at their 30,150-capacity PreZero Arena.

Club records have also been set further down the league this season. Werder Bremen, near the bottom of the league, attracted 2,700 for the visit of Wolfsburg and this weekend, mid-table SC Freiburg drew 6,273 to their Dreisamstadion for the visit of Bayern.

This surge in interest is being mirrored in England, the home of the new European champions. Crowds have increased throughout the league with every club averaging over 1,000 so far this season. Arsenal are averaging crowds of 18,198 after their opening three homes games this season, inflated by a new English league record crowd of 47,367 who attended their North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur at the 60,704-capacity Emirates Stadium. This average could be maintained as Arsenal will play another two league matches at the ground this season and have already sold 30,000 tickets for the game against Manchester United in December.

Both of the Manchester clubs have so far played all their games at their smaller women’s club stadiums but nonetheless Manchester City are averaging a crowd of 3,278 at their Academy Stadium, an increase of over 50% from the 1,197 they recorded in 2021/22. Manchester United are so far averaging 5,062 per game at Leigh Sports Village, up from 3,567 last season. League champions Chelsea’s average attendances of 3,873 are also up from 3,067 in the previous campaign.

Average attendances in France, home of the European club champions, Olympique Lyonnais, remain more modest. As of this weekend, an aggregate attendance of 25,862 have watched the 42 matches so far this season, a league average of 616.

With the top flight in most men’s seasons throughout the world shutting down to facilitate the winter World Cup in Qatar, the opportunity is there for many more European teams to play their women’s matches in the club’s main stadium. On the basis of the evidence so far this season from England and Germany, it is hoped that this opportunity is seized upon to push the women’s game to even greater heights.