Are German fans better then the Brits?

The travelling support of Borussia Dortmund gained rave reviews after their boisterous support of their side at The Etihad in the Champions League match recently which lead me, amongst many to ask if they were the best fans in Europe.

Well if you want to get statistical about it I suppose you could say they are.

Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park stadium, better known as the Westfalenstadion was home to the highest average capacity last season in Europe. 80,521 fans usually attending the games but what makes that statistic even more impressive is the maximum capacity of the ground, 80,708; meaning on average there was only ever 187 empty seats in the ground.

In fact that is the trend across Germany where affordable ticket prices, vibrant atmospheres and modern facilities in good locations makes the football match a great day out no matter your demographic.

When it comes to attendances 14 of the top 50 are from Germany including two sides playing in the 2 Bundesliga, Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Dusseldorf, who coincidentally were promoted last season.

In fact of Europes top ten attended stadiums six of them are the home of German sides with only Manchester United and Arsenal of England and Barcelona and Real Madrid of Spain having any other say.

It might not help that out of all the countries in the Eurozone Germany has been effected by the recession the least, leaving plenty of money for going to see football games.

Here is the top 20 in full with some interesting names in there that you probably would not expect.

1. Borussia Dortmund 80,521
2. FC Barcelona 78,340
3. Manchester United 75,387
4. Real Madrid 74,836
5. Bayern Munich 69,000
6. Schalke 04 61,139
7. Arsenal 60,000
8. VfB Stuttgart 55,089
9. Hertha Berlin 54,259
10. Hamburger SV 53,635
11. Borussia Mönchengladbach 51,846
12. Milan 51,442
13. Celtic 50,904
14. Ajax 50,044
15. Newcastle United 49,935
16. Internazionale 47,913
17. FC Köln 47,647
18. Manchester City 47,044
19. Rangers 46,324
20. Napoli 45,789

It seems if I want to go catch a game in Germany, I better book my ticket well in advance.

image: © Steenbergs

Mathew Nash

@hitcmathewnashGoogle+more stories from Mathew Nash

I’m Mathew Nash a 23 year old graduate in Sports Studies and I have an insatiable love for sport. With a particularly keen interest for the madcap world of football I have always been known amongst friends as a beacon for bizarre sporting trivia and knowledge. My other passion is for writing and hopefully combining the two will create a superb and entertaining marriage that will create, divide and share opinion.