SPFL attendance records broken again

Article posted by Coliseum, June 5^th, 2024

Image: Celtic Park, Zhi Yong Lee, CC BY 2.0

Attendance records in the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) have been broken for the second year running.

The BBC said over 5.15 million supporters took to the stands to watch their side across all SPFL competitions in 2023-24, covering the Premiership, Championship, League 1, League 2, League Cup and the SPFL Trust Trophy.

Attendances in the Championship impressively grew by more than 50 percent – up from 397,373 in season 2022/23 to 609,823 in season 2023/24.

The highest percentage increase in support of any SPFL club was Championship side Raith Rovers, whose average support for its 18 home league games rose from 1,982 in season 2022/23 to 4,192 in season 2023/24.

That year-on-year figure for SPFL matches is a rise of 64,122 supporters on the previous record set in season 2022/23, when 5,087,400 fans attended SPFL matches – the first time over five million fans had attended games in the SPFL era.

Neil Doncaster, SPFL group chief executive, said: “It’s brilliant to see the SPFL attendance records broken for the second consecutive season.

“After topping five million fans across an SPFL season for the first time in season 2022/23, it is hugely promising to see attendances growing even further this season.

“Our supporters are renowned across the world for their dedication and passion and regularly record the highest per capita attendance in Europe.

“I’d like to thank supporters across the country for their continued support of our game, and our clubs look forward to welcoming them back in strong numbers when season 2024/25 kicks off again later this summer.”

A total of 4,746,052 fans attended games across the Premiership, Championship, League 1 and League 2, including play-off fixtures, in season 2023/24.

A total of 3,760,765 attended games in the Premiership in season 2023/24.

In League 1 215,260 fans attended matches, with 107,775 watching games in League 2 – the highest yearly figure for the Scottish fourth tier in the SPFL era. A further 52,429 supporters attended matches across the various SPFL play-offs this season.

Another 405,470 fans passed through the turnstiles across the Premier Sports Cup and SPFL Trust Trophy competitions.

Stats last year showed that Scotland had 21.3 attendees per 1,000 people at matches across its top four divisions – the highest figure across Europe.

This attendance per capita was over 65 percent higher than second placed country Netherlands, which has 12.9 attendees per 1,000 people.

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