ACL Attendances

[Dasher39]

No doubt I'm not the only one that is disappointed by the small crowds at some of the ACL games.

I've compiled a list of average attendances, from highest to lowest:

Al Ittihad (Syr) - 30,500 (2 games)
Al Karama (Syr) - 30,000 (1 game)
Melbourne Victory - 23,757 (2 games)
Beijing Guoan (Chi) - 14,000 (1 game)
Changchun Yatai (Chi) - 14,000 (2 games)
Binh Duong (Vie) - 13,500 (2 games)
Kuruvchi (Uzb) - 13,000 (1 game)
Al Ahli (KSA) - 11,500 (2 games)
Pakhtakor (Uzb) - 11,000 (2 games)
Adelaide United - 10,510 (1 game)
Sepahan (Ira) - 10,500 (2 games)
Chonburi FC (Tha) - 10,000 (1 game)
Pohang Steelers (Kor) - 8,436 (1 game)
Saipa (Ira) - 8,000 (1 game)
Al Ittihad (KSA) - 7,500 (1 game)
Kuwait SC (Kuw) - 7,000 (1 game)
Gamba Osaka (Jap) - 7,000 (1 game)
Kashima Antlers (Jap) - 6,787 (2 games)
Al Qadsia (Kuw) - 6,500 (2 games)
Al Wasl Sports Club (UAE) - 6,061 (2 games)
Al Sadd Sport Club (Qat) - 6,000 (2 games)
Al Wahda (UAE) - 5,500 (1 game)
Al Quwa Al Jawiya (Irq) - 2,500 (2 games)
Al Gharafa (Qat) - 2,000 (1 game)
Chunnam Dragons (Kor) - 1,750 (2 games)
Krung Thai Bank (Tha) - 1,250 (2 games)
Nam Dinh (Vie) - 600 (1 game)
Arbil (Irq) - 250 (1 game)


Not bad, we have the third highest average attendance behind the Syrian teams!

Interesting to see how poor the Japanese clubs are, I would have thought after what Urawa did last season the Japanese clubs would have lifted their efforts this season.

Just goes to show that the competition hasn't quite captured the imagination across the continent.

[Victer]

Bin Hamman is changing the formatt for next season i think. They should kick out some leagues from se asia and the middle east to professionalise it. More places should be given to k,j and a-league and some of the bigger leagues in the middle east to make this more glamorous. Prize money as well will be included which will place greater respect to the competition

[sj]

Bin Hamman is changing the formatt for next season i think. They should kick out some leagues from se asia and the middle east to professionalise it. More places should be given to k,j and a-league and some of the bigger leagues in the middle east to make this more glamorous. Prize money as well will be included which will place greater respect to the competition

Hear hear.

It has to be seen as a league of champions - something massive, a big stage to play on.

[NUFCMVFC]

^^^ Generally agree, however we don't want to marginalise and hence end up widening the gaps further, as the Perding fans thread shows there is a lot of football enthusiasm in SE Asia that hasn't had the investment to match, rather I think they should think in blocs, basically they should have qualifying places, but have the big leagues play off against eachother so say 4th place in the A League plays off against the 4th entrant from J league or K league or CSL or whatever, and the SE Asians always play it out, that way a Krung Tahi Bank and a Namh Dinh who hand out competition compromising 9-1 results are squeezed out by the latter day Persik and Chonburi who are able to ensure diversity, SE Asian representation/interest and good value to the comp in footballing terms. I am not sure how the Middle East works exactly but I would say a similar theme shoudl apply. The fact that the AFC Cup Champs will get a berth is good too

Good thing about Pro League, while it may be an idea to keep ACL title, it may be beneficial to change comp form a League of Champions to a league of the elite, the cream of all the top leagues, where everyone is good, even if they aren't the champs, it is what UCL has become, this may be bad for UCL in some respects as it is no longer as pure as it once was, but it would eb good for AFC given the context

One issue may be the fact that the ACL matchdays coincide right on week 1 of the J League, when most teams are probably focussed on wanting to get soem good momentum and most of the media interest is in terms of league build up, maybe they should wait like UCL a few weeks in until the Leagues are under way, that way they can have their own build up plus the clubs will have established some league momentum by then and so can turn their attention to continental campaigns a bit better

Not to mention the simple fact that making it actually lucrative through prize money and so attractive would help, plus a bit more of an intense drive to promote it on the AFC's part, they should take a leaf out fo FFA's book, when we had the WCQ's, we had A League hoardings, watch the 2005 playoff vs Uruguay and they are bahind the goals, featuring in most of the goalmouth related replays from shots etc, but also people who would turn up for the mainstream appealing WCQ's would also be accessed. AFC need to start promoting the ACL/Pro League at the WCQ's, we have seen there through the attendance figures that even in countries with only a slim chance of progressing to the World Cup are turning up in numbers because they are football fans and the event relates to the world cup, the biggest and most appealing show on Earth

All the AFC WCQ's should have ACL advertising, they need to change this from some obscure bonus competition to something that is seen as a substantial dual competition which peoples football clubs play in,

[NUFCMVFC]

Does anyone have figures on J league, K League, Oil League, Indo League etc figures

I am curious to know where MVFC's average stack up in the operall scheme of things, also the A League average attendance stacks up against J League average attendance, K League, Oil Leagues, ACL total average

[John Helm]

Does anyone have figures on J league, K League, Oil League, Indo League etc figures

I am curious to know where MVFC's average stack up in the operall scheme of things, also the A League average attendance stacks up against J League average attendance, K League, Oil Leagues, ACL total average


Wikipedia

[juanpabloangel]

the format is ok as it is... these smaller nations are not going to get experience, if they aren't allowed to play. the japanese teams are not the bigger ones for attendance... the biggest support doesn't always mean the best team... think mariners and jets

[RunnaLittle]

fuck me - we are getting 25000 in the off season, when the nations biggest sport has commenced it's 150th season with all media trappings that pushes us into the blacklight.

Our figures are fantastic in our current climate. Whether you like it or not, many of our fans (not members or hardcores) were either up at 4:30am to wacth UEFA CL or were going to get up at 4:30am the next day for UEFA CL and probably decided to watch it at home.

This means we have approx 25000 members and die hard fans. That is a fantastic number and should be celebrated.

Anyone who expects more than 30000 on a regular basis is still delussional.

I for one can not wait till we get our new 35000 seater.

[andre the seal]

A little dissapointing that this competition just doesn't have the allure it should at the moment. After us in third the drop off is worrying. Hopefully the changes made to the ACL for the coming years will make it much more attractive and entice more fans from Korea, Japan, China etc. to come and watch their team play on an international stage.

Agree though that our average of near enough to 25,000 is fantastic for this time of year.

[Socceroo_06]

Maybe this will put it into perspective.

K-league attendances for last season:
- Chunnam Dragons 8,565
- Pohang Steelers 6,572

J-league attendances for last season:
- Gamba Osaka 17,439
- Kashima Antlers 16,239

I don't get why people are disappointed with the turnout when these teams don't get great attendances in their own leagues anyway.

[MVNV]

most asians coudlnt give a stuff about their own leagues, its all epl epl epl

[NUFCMVFC]

Especially considering when Gambas ground only holds 23k, so basically our ACL attendances would fill their ground and would be considered good for them (to be getting sellouts that is)

Am looking at websites to get a clearer picture of things and according to this (http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/paytv/Pay-Television---Weekly-Rankings-Report-170308.html)
when we played Chunnam and Adelaide played Pohang in AFC Champs League came in 7th for the week with 66 000 viewers, just about shading some Super 14 matches but lower than others...

Interesting, putting things in context what do people think of 66k?

[The Frederick]

Gamba Osaka (Jap) - 7,000 (1 game)

>_<

It'll be good when the Pro League starts and all the shit is filtered out. Nam Dinh my ass.

[Carlton life member]

Perhaps our expectations of attendances are shaped by living in a city with a massively high rate of attendance at sporting events. The AFL has the second highest attendance figures for any competition in the entire world, even though half its games are in this city.

[The Frederick]

The AFL has the second highest attendance figures for any competition in the entire world, even though half its games are in this city.

Well, there's a lot of factors that attribute to that. No relegation, bigger stadia, socialist finances.

[Carlton life member]

Well, there's a lot of factors that attribute to that. No relegation, bigger stadia, socialist finances.

Doesn't matter what creates it. The point is that we live in a place where it seems normal to have multiple 25k events every weekend. So we start to take it for granted.

Whereas, the reality around most of the world is that 25k on a weeknight is impressive.

[smhfc1959]

I cant beleive you are playing in a league that only gets 250 to a game.

[Rob]

The AFL has the second highest attendance figures for any competition in the entire world

Source or STFU.

[NULL]

fuck me

Alright.

[stinger]

Perhaps our expectations of attendances are shaped by living in a city with a massively high rate of attendance at sporting events. The AFL has the second highest attendance figures for any competition in the entire world, even though half its games are in this city.

its actually third, and its professional sports it doesnt include College sports in America.

it goes

NFL
EPL
AFL


Also you must remember that most football leagues in the world have many more professional teams, so while the average per game may be less, on a given week end the crowds would be much higher. Apart from AFL, the lower levels of the game get very small crowds compared to Football played at lower levels around the world.

[jogobonito]

Format needs drastic changes, hopefully a change will improve attendances across the continent. Good to see up there, but even we should be generating more numbers through the turnstiles.

[le Cabbage]

if you go by average attendances it is;
NFL
AFL
BUNDESLIGA
EPL
MLB

[NUFCMVFC]

its actually third, and its professional sports it doesnt include College sports in America.

it goes

NFL
EPL
AFL


Also you must remember that most football leagues in the world have many more professional teams, so while the average per game may be less, on a given week end the crowds would be much higher. Apart from AFL, the lower levels of the game get very small crowds compared to Football played at lower levels around the world.

A good effort, says somethign about Melbourne, at the same time as you point out, yes, the total number watching in a given week due to the size of the competition is smaller than some of the others and the broadcast viewership isn't in the same league as some of the others. Nice effort nonetheless, although if they do expand it will probably drop slightly

This is a few years old but according to this
http://www.knowfirst.info/forums/archive/index.php/t-22643.html

A League is in 17th, if we take last seasons figure of about 14k then we would be 13th up against those other leagues, only a few thousand less than the posted J League figure and higher than K League just behind MLS, who I would expect would get higher with Beckham now, obviously the others would have moved slightly, amazing effort by Australia, especially an embyonic A League considering the population differences

Good thing about A League though is that while the broadcast viewership may be small in domestic terms due to only being on Foxtel, once the ACL gets properly revamped our clubs should be getting some pretty decent viewership numbers through the ACL, good for us that we have that extra dimension

[John Helm]

Bundesliga = best sporting league in the world.

Also, not all football fans are embracing an A-league club. I know quite a few who prefer the Victorian league system. I'd be interested to see average attendance figures (if avaliable) for domestic leagues such as ther VPL and whatever they've got in Shitney.

[KingKewell]

The VPL's average game attendance is 600 per match... which is 4,200 per week!

[PW]

its actually third, and its professional sports it doesnt include College sports in America.

it goes

NFL
EPL
AFL


Also you must remember that most football leagues in the world have many more professional teams, so while the average per game may be less, on a given week end the crowds would be much higher. Apart from AFL, the lower levels of the game get very small crowds compared to Football played at lower levels around the world.

That's pretty impressive, considering the population differences.

[3_Libras]

Population differences? What a minimalistic way to look at crowds. People should just stop comparing crowds between the big leagues, its the most nonsensical thing which gets no one anywhere - there are just so many variables, that its ridiculous. AFL, NFL, and the EPL could not be any more different than they are, making it virtually impossible to compare crowds, unless you disregard everything and just look at a Wiki source.