So yes, tickets in England are most expensive in real terms, but it will cost a Spaniard a larger part of his salary (2.16%) to see 20 matches of his favourite team. Not that English fans are much better off, they still spend more than 2% of their salary on football. Cheapest is still Ligue 1, now followed by the Dutch Eredivisie. In both leagues fans don’t spend more than 1% of their salary on football, though fair enough, these fans also do not get to see a Lionel Messi or Wayne Rooney.
Of course, we don’t take into account discounts through season tickets or being a ‘socio’. And only looking at the cheapest category does not mean much if only a few matches are classified in the this category. For example, whereas in Holland only three out of ten teams charge more for higher-profile matches, half of Spanish teams ask more, and eight out of ten German and English teams ask more.
But at the same time, the highest-profile match costs an English fan only 40% more, but a German fan already 60%, and in Spain it’s not uncommon to have to pay more than double, or even triple the normal price to see
Barcelona or
Real Madrid.