Attached is an article from the guy who runs www.portuguesesoccer.com. He recently spent some time in Portugal and has some comments regarding attendance with the smaller clubs. In a nutshell, the Big 3 (Benfica, Sporting and Porto) draw well 20-30K+, while the smaller clubs have trouble breaking 5K in many games. Benfica's Estadio da Luz has a capacity of 80k, and it is not uncommon for the stadium to be sold out in games against Sporting and Porto. http://geocities.com/porto97.geo/diary.html
here's a link to all european attendance statistics http://european-football-statistics.co.uk/index1.htm
Great site, Gosya!!! Attached is the Portugal page. http://european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/2003/avepor.htm
wow, i thought they would be a little higher. mostly around 15,000 is what i thought. Some of these teams get less than A-League teams!
Remember, though, some of these smaller clubs are from towns with very small populations. The population of a Rochester, for example, would dwarf some of these small Portuguese towns.
And remember ticket prices. A lot of people in Portugal can't afford 30 Euros a ticket. And to stand in the freezing cold on top of it. Although I must say I paid 35 Euros at the luz and the seats were great!Granted I can afford 35 bucks considering I pay $50 for the 49ers and $35 for the Sharks. With the New satdiums in Portugal the seats will be covered and people will come out to the games just to see the stadiums. Hopefully they won't affect ticket prices too much.
These number wouldn't surprise me. Beside the ticket prices, the Portuguese league is basically a 3-club dominion. Once in a blue moon, you'd find a Boavista or a Belenenses make a serious effort for the trophy. Other than that exception, it's always the two big Lisbon clubs and FC Porto. So the fans of Santa Clara, Guimaraes, Nacional or Beira Mar might not find any good reason to come out as long as they know they won't catch the 3 clubs.