Kölner Haie tops European clubs in attendance
The German club returns to the top after SC Bern's 21-year reign
Kölner Haie - Kölner Haie tops European clubs in attendanceA few weeks ago, the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs published its annual list of attendance figures in European leagues and, for the first time since 2000-01, the leader was not Swiss club SC Bern. With an average of 16,993 fans per regular-season game at Lanxess Arena, German club Kölner Haie led all European teams in attendance, setting a European single-season record in the process.
After finishing first for an amazing 21 consecutive seasons – not counting the 2020-21 season, when pandemic-related restrictions severely limited attendance everywhere – Bern finished second this season, averaging 15,940 at PostFinance Arena. Bern topped out at 16,399 in 2016-17, setting a record that lasted till this season.
Prior to this season, the last team other than Bern to lead European hockey clubs in attendance was also Kölner Haie, 23 seasons ago. To show how much European hockey attendance has grown since then, Die Haie’s leading figure that season was 11,529 fans per game, with Bern and Finland’s Jokerit Helsinki being the only other teams to pass the 10,000 mark. This season, 11 teams from six different countries eclipsed that mark. Teams ranked third through 11th include Eisbären Berlin, SKA St. Petersburg, Dynamo Minsk, Avangard Omsk, Sparta Prague, Adler Mannheim, ZSC Lions Zurich, Frölunda Gothenburg and Sibir Novosibirsk.
In terms of league attendance, the top two were also from Germany and Switzerland, with the Deutsche Eishockey Liga just edging the National League 7,162 to 7,130 on average.
“Germany’s DEL was the second-highest attended ice hockey league worldwide only behind the National Hockey League with currently 17,452 spectators, led by the Montreal Canadiens with an average of 21,095,” wrote Martin Merk on the EHC Alliance’s website.
The German and Swiss leagues were followed by the Russian-based KHL (6,623), Swedish Hockey League (6,136), Czech Extraliga (5,562), Finnish Liiga (4,568) and British EIHL (3,479)
