German professional football sees highest ticket demand in history

19 July 2023 – Unrivalled crowds and passionate fanbases: the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 remain immensely popular among spectators. During the 2022-23 season, the number of tickets sold by the 36 professional clubs totalled 19,755,465, the highest figure ever. It broke the previous record from the 2016-17 season (19,049,362) by nearly 4 per cent. Ever since the figures were first collected, they have been based on the number of tickets issued, including complimentary tickets as well as those sold. This is the standardised way of measuring that is also common in other leagues.

In the 2022-23 season, all 612 matches of the two top leagues were held without restrictions on spectators for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bundesliga achieved total ticket sales of 12,976,427, with an average of 42,407 tickets sold per match. This roughly equals the numbers from the last season before the pandemic (2018-19), when an average of 42,738 were sold. In terms of the average number of tickets sold per match, the Bundesliga therefore remains the undisputed leader among Europe’s top leagues in the 2022-23 season.

In Bundesliga 2, total ticket sales are in fact significantly higher than in the pre-COVID era. A total of 6,779,038 tickets were sold, equating to an average of 22,154 tickets per match – a new Bundesliga 2 record. This is an increase of nearly 17 per cent on the 2018-19 season.