Because of “top football”
The Second Bundesliga is creating a strange novelty
February 20, 2024, 11:49 a.m
Spectators flock to the stadiums of the 2nd Bundesliga. On the 22nd matchday there are so many that for the first time ever the strange situation arises that there are more than one floor above.
In the middle of the bitter discussion about an investor’s entry into German football, in which supporters repeatedly argue that people want to see top football and top footballers, the second division is producing impressive numbers. On the 22nd match day – according to “Kicker” calculations – 284,643 people will flock to the nine matches. And for the first time ever, that is significantly more fans than the 261,099 who wanted to watch the games of the premium Bundesliga product.
Significantly more people wanted to see the basement duel between FC Schalke 04 and newly promoted Wehen Wiesbaden alone (60,542) than the Bundesliga duels Wolfsburg against Borussia Dortmund (24,800) and Mainz 05 against Augsburg (28,917) combined. Only in Paderborn (against Kiel) and Elversberg (against Osnabrück) were there fewer people at the football than in the games with the lowest attendance in the upper house.
Miracle team Leverkusen would be in 8th place in the 2nd league
However, the truth is also: Five of the nine Bundesliga stadiums were sold out, and more fans would certainly have liked to see the away game of the now designated German champions Bayer Leverkusen than the 15,000 that fit into the promoted team’s small Voith Arena in Heidenheim. BVB, the club with the highest average attendance in Europe, played in Wolfsburg. And significantly more spectators would have wanted to celebrate FC Bayern’s defeat at VfL Bochum than the 26,000 lucky people who were able to get a ticket for the game.
On the other hand: The 284,643 spectators for the nine second division games last weekend are by no means a record. It is only the third best mark that the 18 clubs have produced this season: on matchday 12, 292,128 people streamed into the stadiums, and on matchday 12 there were even 297,163 spectators. Seven second division teams have a higher average attendance than Bundesliga table leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
The long-suffering FC Schalke 04 would be in third place in the Bundesliga spectator rankings. In terms of sport, they rank 14th in the 2nd league. And it is miles away from top-class football and (sporting) attractiveness. Fans are also flocking to Hamburger SV in droves in the sixth year of its now eternal tour of the lower house: an average attendance of 55,772 would be enough for fourth place in the audience ranking one floor up.
With an average audience of 28,358, the German lower house ranks fifth in the ranking of the football leagues with the highest attendance in Europe, ahead of the French Ligue 1 (26,620) and behind Spain’s La Liga (29,136). Even after the 22nd matchday, on which fewer fans found their way into the stadiums than ever since the Corona restrictions were lifted, the Bundesliga remains the leader. On average, 39,116 people want to watch a game. In the English Premier League, the most financially powerful football league in the world, there are 38,354.