It is widely regarded that club European football is the place to be for any professional footballer. But it's not always a Gran Derbi at Camp Nou or BVB vs. FCB in Dortmund. Let's see who has the smallest stadia within the best four leagues!

Since 2007, only once has a side outside of Europe failed to win the FIFA Club World Cup Finals (Corinthians defeated Chelsea in 2012) making those looking for the best bookie free bet offers worth sticking to the land that features the likes of the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A for a wide variety of markets and in-depth analysis.

The Stadia in Europe is also some of the finest you will see anywhere in the world with infrastructure a key driver in the business plan of any aspiring or current top-flight side.

Naturally, the likes of Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Real Madrid’s Bernabeu, Manchester United’s Old Trafford and Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena often steal the limelight, but what of the unsung heroes hosting top level football matches across Europe’s top four leagues?

It’s time to give the little guy some attention as we look at the smallest stadium currently in operation in the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A.

Premier League

AFC Bournemouth – Dean Court

Capacity - 11,329

Ten years ago, AFC Bournemouth were plying their trade in England’s fourth tier. Since then their rise up the English pyramid has been remarkable with the club under Eddie Howe’s stewardship a well-established Premier League club.

Currently enjoying their fourth straight top-flight campaign, the Cherries appear in little danger of relegation and are once again proving that a small stadium is no barrier to growth. The club’s Dean Court ground (known as the Vitality for sponsorship reasons) is the smallest stadium to ever appear in the Premier League.

La Liga

Eibar – Ipurua

Capacity – 7,083

The truth is, if this article had been written at the beginning of the season, it would have been newly promoted Huesca’s El Alcoraz Stadium that would have been on the list. However, following promotion from the Segunda Division, the minnows ground was expanded to 7638 from 5000 and thus overtaking Eibar’s tiny yet modern Ipuru.

Eibar is a club similar to Bournemouth in so much as ten years ago the club were plying their trade in the third tier of Spanish football. Now an established La Liga club in their fifth straight season, one problem has remained is their small capacity stadium.

Despite holding a full UEFA licence, many opposing teams have complained the stadium (opened in 1947) is not up to scratch for top level competitive games and earlier in the season as part of one of the stand’s collapsed causing minor injuries to a number of fans.

Bundesliga

Freiburg – Schwarzwald-Stadion

Capacity – 25,000

Since it's the world's biggest league by attendance, it's also no wonder that even the smallest stadium is quite big. It's no wonder, the minimum requirement is 15,000 and no club with smaller ground would be granted license.

Almost 25,000 in Freiburg's charming Dreisamstadion (common name) is well above that limit but too small for Freiburg itself. That's why a brand new stadium is in the making and expected to come within 2 years. It will add 10,000 to SC Freiburg's attendance potential with almost 35,000 places.

Serie A

SPAL - Stadio Paolo Mazza

Capacity – 16,164

SPAL are another club who have risen the ranks to the top flight despite a history of playing Serie A football most notably in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

The club’s stadium opened in 1928 and has since been renovated six times most recently in 2018 with the current capacity at 16,164.

The Stadium is not small by some standards and only just counts as the smallest in Serie A as Frosinone Stadio Benito Stirpe holds a smidge more at 16,227.