A record number of supporters watched Spanish La Liga matches during 2016/17, with more than 14 million fans going through the turnstiles on the peninsula last season.
Around 40,000 more supporters watched games in La Liga and La Liga 1|2|3 (the Spanish second tier) last season than in 2015/16, and the total number of supporters has seen year on year increases over the last four seasons. Overall, there has been a considerable increase of over 1 million extra fans going to games between 2013/14 and 2016/17.
The fact that a record number of fans have been going to games has had the concomitant effects that more tickets have been sold (up 23,628 last season) and stadiums have been more full (up 0.6%). Both figures, together with the total number of season ticket holders, are new records for Spanish football.
The records coincide with a particularly successful period for Spanish football on the European stage. La Liga currently has a UEFA co-efficient of 88.998, streets ahead of the Bundesliga (63.284), the Premier League (61.819) and Serie A (60.249). The only non-Spanish team to have played in the Champions League final in the last four years is Juventus (in 2014/15 and 2016/17), while Sevilla have won three Europa League titles in the same time period.
It is very likely that La Liga will continue to break its own records as its top clubs renovate and build new, bigger stadiums. Atletico Madrid will move into La Peineta next season, which has a capacity of nearly 67,000, compared to the 55,000 capacity Vicente Calderon. Barcelona have plans to increase the capacity of the Camp Nou to 105,000, though this is not expected to be completed until 2021.
