Spectator boom at the ELF: More than 100,000 visitors after Week 3 - 30,000 tickets already sold for final in Gelsenkirchen

The European League of Football is already experiencing a spectator boom at the start of its fourth season. On the third match day of the ‘Champions League’ of European football, the mark of 100,000 spectators in the stadiums of the 17 teams from nine nations was already broken. And: More than 30,000 tickets were already sold in advance for the final on 24 September in the VELTINS Arena, the home of the traditional soccer club FC Schalke 04.

"The hype is real! We are delighted with the interest and popularity of the football community and are proud to be able to offer fans not only top-class sport but also great entertainment with the ELF. We've already had four games in the five-figure range. That's outstanding and a great signal for our sport in Europe", says Patrick Esume, Commissioner of the European League of Football.

Record-breaking attendance

The ELF attendance record has stood since 11 June 2023, when 32,500 spectators witnessed the clash between the Sea Devils and Rhein Fire in Hamburg's Volksparkstadion, who later won the Championship Game against Stuttgart Surge in front of 31,500 spectators in the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena in Duisburg. It is already clear that a new record will be set (at the latest) in the 2024 final in Gelsenkirchen.

But the trend is already pointing steeply upwards in the regular season: The Panthers Wroclaw kicked off with 15,128 spectators at the Tarczynski Arena against Berlin Thunder, in week 2 the Sea Devils were delighted with 13,834 fans at Bremen's wohninvest Weserstadion against Paris Musketeers and Frankfurt Galaxy had 13,586 spectators at Bieberer Berg in Offenbach against Rhein Fire. In Vienna, 10,919 spectators watched the Austrian clash between the Vienna Vikings and the Raiders Tirol.

Season target of 750.000 spectators

"Before the start of the season, we set ourselves the ambitious target of 750,000 people in the stadiums. The start has been made! We are delighted that the ELF and its franchises have built up this reputation in such a short space of time that they are increasingly able to play their games in top arenas. We will continue along this path", says Zeljko Karajica, Managing Director of the European League of Football.

With a view to the coming year, those responsible for the continental league were able to set another milestone early on: The 2025 final will be held in cooperation with VfB Stuttgart in the 60,058-capacity MHP Arena, the ‘living room’ of the runners-up in the Bundesliga. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.