Juve left standing by Cats...
SUNDERLAND can boast a higher average attendance than European giants Juventus this season.
And that’s despite playing in the second tier of English football.
With an average of 37,926 at the Stadium of Light, fans of Tony Mowbray’s Black Cats have shown tremendous support on the club’s return to the Championship.
Serie A juggernauts Juventus have so far averaged 37,634 in Turin, which puts Sunderland’s fantastic backing into perspective among Europe’s elite.
Compared to other English teams they rank 11th overall, above a host of Premier League sides – including Leeds.
Sunderland’s impressive figures also dwarf their closest EFL rivals, with more than 10,000 fans on average than Sheffield United (27,899) and Norwich (27,543).
Manchester United top the English attendance figures, averaging 74,570.
This sees them take fourth place across Europe with Barcelona recording 83,383 at the Nou Camp.
Fans of League One Derby (27,109) can lord it over four Premier League outfits – Crystal Palace (24,114), Fulham (23,007), Brentford (17,019) and Bournemouth (10,179).
Sheffield Wednesday (24,651) and Ipswich (24,236) are also packing them in alongside Derby.
Brentford and Bournemouth each had worse turnouts than a host of lower league clubs, including League Two Bradford, who average 17,192 at Valley Parade.
National League side Wrexham, backed by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, boasted an average of 9,874 Dragons fans at the Racecourse Ground this season.
That is only slightly surpassed by the Cherries, whose crowd means they rank 50th on average in England, despite their top-flight status.