The Faroe Islands have the biggest regular attendances at football matches in terms of the proportion of the population that go, followed by Iceland, Cyprus, Scotland and England. The research was done three years ago, but the relative proportions have probably not changed all that much.
England had the biggest absolute attendances at just under 1.5 million, accounting for 2.79 per cent of the population.
The Faroe Islands have the biggest regular attendances at football matches in terms of the proportion of the population that go, followed by Iceland, Cyprus, Scotland and England. The research was done three years ago, but the relative proportions have probably not changed all that much.
England had the biggest absolute attendances at just under 1.5 million, accounting for 2.79 per cent of the population.
As part of some research I did on football just before the outbreak of the First World War, I calculated that a non-league team was attracting 15 per cent of the male population of its town to the most attractive matches (relatively few women attended games then).
Given that some men were working on Saturday, this is an impressive figure. However, it also reflects the lack of alternative leisure outlets which may have some relevance in the cases of the Faroes and Iceland.