The French league. Some love it, others call it “farmers league”. A competition dominated by the team from Paris, and an outcome other than PSG winning a match pleases everyone else. Does chairman Al-Khelaiïfi's team have the same big advantage in the stands as on the pitch?

Average performance in stands in France

Fans in France did not go to the 2023/24 games in crowds. Without surprises, PSG won once again, but one of the teams that will play in the Champions League may surprise the average viewer of the French league. Ligue 1 matches were watched by 8,197,990 spectators, a drop of more than 800,000 tickets compared to the previous season.

The attendance in the stadiums was more interesting than the results on the pitch. Not once did the French champion fill Parc des Princes. None of the French giants did so, which may come as a surprise. However, one team sold out tickets for every game, while another strong team played with almost half empty stands.

© Chabe01 (CC BY-SA 4.0) | Parc des Princes

Clear winner: RC Lens

RC Lens, despite not playing in the European cups, pride themselves on a phenomenal statistic. Stade Bollaert-Delelis was the only stadium to be filled 17 times last season. The 650,000 tickets sold is an impressive result, especially when compared to bigger stadiums like Velodrome.

Apart from Lens, four other teams have filled their stadiums at least once. These are:

• RC Strasbourg: Stade de la Meinau
• FC Metz: Stade Saint-Symphorien
• Stade Rennes: Roazhon Park
• Stade Brestois 29: Stade Francis-Le Blé

The surprise of the competition will play in the Champions League for the first time ever. The venue, where fans watched matches from stands not permitted by UEFA, has not been admitted to European cups.

Each of these stadiums has a capacity of less than 30,000. In total, almost 1 900 000 tickets were sold in the three arenas. Despite the crowds in the stands, FC Metz failed to retain their place in Ligue 1, losing the play-off match against Saint-Etienne, who are returning to the top division after a two-season absence.

© Léo | Stade de la Meinau

Biggest disappointments

There are also teams that do not attract many fans. The leader in this category is AC Monaco, which plays at Stade Louis-II in the Principality of Monaco. Football is not very popular there - the city-state is more famous for F1 racing and low taxes. The stadium did not even fill half of the available seats.

Also a surprise is OGC Nice, which will play in the qualifiers for the Europa Conference League. Allianz Riviera attracted an average of 25,000 spectators per game, which is less than 70% of the stadium's capacity. Attendances were up by only 800 spectators compared to last season.