Fan in a million
Celts blast through magnificent seven-figure attendance barrier
CELTIC boast the ninth highest average attendance in Europe after smashing through the one million barrier last season.
A UEFA report shows the Hoops are one of only 15 clubs – four more than last term – to rack up a sevenfigure aggregate for league games.
The Hoops’ crowds at Parkhead puts them alongside European powerhouses such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
Their impressive average of 57,523 means they are watched by more fans than English giants Manchester City and Liverpool and only slightly fewer than Inter Milan who are in eighth place.
Rangers are also among the top 20 best-supported clubs on the continent with their 49,174 average attendance at Ibrox last season putting them ahead of French giants PSG.
The European club footballing landscape’s wide ranging UEFA- commissioned annual report was published by European football’s governing body detailing the financial and social health of football across the continent.
And the results revealed positive news for the Scottish Premiership with our league the seventh-highest average attendance of any European nation.
The 15,986 fans attending topflight games on average was more than Russia, Turkey and Portugal as Germany and England again claimed the top two spots.
Scotland was also one of 17 countries boasting revenue growth of more than 15 per cent and that is likely to increase further next season after the SPFL signed a record £21million broadcast deal.
The 10th UEFA report of its kind looked at 700 top division clubs and shows that European football is in a good financial state.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said: “The health of European club football is highlighted, with the 700 top division clubs generating the first bottom-line profit in history.”
The report follows an independent study released by the Fraser of Allander Institute at the end of last year which highlighted the scale of Celtic’s contribution to the Scottish economy each year.
The study revealed Celtic and their fans are worth £165m to the Scottish economy.