The 61,889 crowd that watched Roma v Liverpool on Wednesday has ensured that this season’s UEFA Champions League will end with the highest average attendance since the competition began in 1992/93.
A total of 5,683,357 people have watched the 124 fixtures so far (from the group stage onwards), already overtaking the 5,676,953 aggregate attendance in 2013/14, which included the final. The average that year was 45,416; this season the number stands at 45,834 with around 63,000 set to watch the final in Kyiv on 26 May.
This season’s aggregate attendance will not reach the 6,426,477 of 2002/03, when the second group stage meant the competition proper then comprised 157 rather than the current 125 matches. In most years of the old European Champion Clubs’ Cup, the average crowd did not touch the 40,000+ mark of recent campaigns. However, in 1959/60, not counting the preliminary round, the mean attendance was an all-time high 49,926, which in today’s format would require an aggregate of 6,240,790 over 125 games to beat.
Average attendance for each UEFA Champions League season (group stage to final)
125 matches
2017/18: 45,834 (124 matches)
2016/17: 42,845
2015/16: 40,997
2014/15: 41,102
2013/14: 45,416
2012/13: 45,035
2011/12: 42,075
2010/11: 43,878
2009/10: 42,093
2008/09: 39,962
2007/08: 42,831
2006/07: 44,233
2005/06: 40,944
2004/05: 39,648
2003/04: 35,896
157 matches
2002/03: 40,933
2001/02: 34,541
2000/01: 36,362
1999/2000: 35,097
85 matches
1998/99: 41,977
1997/98: 33,043
61 matches
1996/97: 34,417
1995/96: 30,512
1994/95: 38,046
27 matches
1993/94: 44,191
25 matches
1992/83: 34,722
UEFA Champions League attendance records
- Overall: 115,500 – Barcelona v Paris Saint-Germain, 1994/95 quarter-final first leg
- Final: 90,245 – Manchester United v Bayern, 1998/99 (Camp Nou, Barcelona)
- Group stage: 114,273 – Barcelona v Manchester United, 1994/95
- Pre-group stage: 75,312 – Manchester United v Club Brugge, 2015/16 play-off first leg
European Cup attendance records
- Overall: 135,805 – Celtic v Leeds United, 1969/70 semi-final second leg
- Final: 127,621 – Real Madrid v Eintracht Frankfurt, 1959/60 final (Hampden Park, Glasgow)
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