HawkMan

Top 15 football leagues for attendances, ranking from 1995 to 2025

Well done Al Hilal, Inzaghi top coach. ++ ; Channel 5 **; DAZN Updated, Saturday Palmeiras v Botafogo 1700 ** Benfica v Chelsea 2100 ** Sunday PSG v Inter Miami 1700 ( Messi v old friends) ++ Flamengo v Bayern 2100 ++ Monday Inter Milan v Fluminense 2000 ++ Tuesday Man City v Al Hilal 0200 (Monday U.S.) ++ Real Madrid v Juventus 2000 ** Wednesday Dortmund v Monterrey 0200 ( Tuesday U.S.) **

I wasn't comparing the sports, but the attitude of some who think the whole idea is daft but would applaud it in RL. Unless IT IS daft in one but not the other.

Latest- lovely old fashioned dirty Italian v Argie game last night as Inter beat River 2-0 knocking them out. Last 16; Saturday Palmeiras v Botafogo 1700 Benfica v Chelsea 2100 Sunday PSG v Inter Miami 1700 ( Messi v old friends) Flamengo v Bayern 2100 Monday Inter Milan v Fluminense 2000 Tuesday Juventus/ Man City v Salzburg/ Real Madrid/Al Hilal 0200 (Monday U.S.) Salzburg/ Real Madrid/ Al Hilal v Juventus/ Man City 2000 Wednesday Dortmund v Monterrey 0200 ( Tuesday U.S.)

They would have played games anyway, pointless friendly tournaments in the Far East or The States , at least the CWC puts pay to those. I've enjoyed it, nice to see famous teams that I've never seen before like Boca, Palmeiras, River Plate etc. Crowds slowly building as tournament heads to knockout. We must not be too Eurocentric, the R.O.W is keen as mustard particularly the Latin American fans. The ironic and slightly hypocritical thing is, if RL attempted this , a brand new comp, bringing teams hitherto never played competitively against each other before, to a potential new audience and bringing new TV money to the game many on here would be applauding the idea.

Oh..FU....fiddlesticks 2-1 Inter.

Goal of the tournament so far from Martinez, sort of swivelling overhead kick, 1-1 Urawara tiring. Inter need win to avoid a needing probable win against River.

Obviously want England to win but these u21 tournaments lack a bit of intensity for me. 1-0 to Urawa Red Diamonds, Inter Milan need to win this with River Plate to come in game 3. Monterrey v River early hours tomorrow should be interesting.

Nope, I've just never managed to get into the under 21s or whatever of any sport.

Boca v Bayern didn't stay best game for long, Sundowns v Borussia great game and Jobe Bellingham MOTM, CWC really warming up. Channel 5action ( 150 on sky q) for for this evening match.

Just caught up with the Boca v Bayern match recorded overnight. Best game so far, excellent crowd, amazing atmosphere, and Kane Man of the Match, sorry Superior player of the match. Boca up to usual tricks, but Bayern played very well. BTW weather delays infuriating, don't remember such problems in WC in '94, evidence of global warming perhaps.

This is an inaugural tournament so FIFA will make tweaks to it in many areas for future editions,including kick off times and matching stadiums to expected turn out. FIFA will probably be happy with 50% turn out, and TV viewing figures are more important anyway, and I've read that those are particularly good in South America. The next edition if it is like this one in being held in the following year's WC location then that'll be Spain and Portugal and I expect attendances to be higher. Rugby League fans do obsess about attendances, and so do a lot of the media , particularly those who have previously stated they want the tournament to fail, and it's becoming boring.

So far, Real Madrid v Al Hilal very good game, 1-1, Al Hilal deserving of the scoreline. I actually recognise more of their players than Real's, Trent AA done alright, nothing great or poor, solid, Bellingham anonymous.

I've just looked up the relevant dates for various comps. The Liverpool v Villa will almost certainly be on tv, EVERY game not on Saturday at 3pm will be televised in 25/26 season. If Liverpool play on Wednesday 5th November in CL then it'll be moved to Sunday. If they play on Tuesday then it'll be moved to Friday night ,and any League Cup tie will be on prior Tuesday. May be a disappointment for SL but Friday night Prem will be the norm next season.

On ESPN there's a daily sports show called Pardon The Interruption ( PTI) where journos discuss the day's action, bit like Sky's Back Pages Tonight. Aimed at Americans, no mention of CWC or Gold Cup at all, it's all MLB,NBA and close season NFL gossip. Perhaps the general sporting public interest in soccer in the US has been a tad overstated.

Bit like Australia v England women in Las Vegas. Or many RLWC games in '22. Perhaps FIFA will shrink the tournament to 10 teams

That's enough for me, back to the World Cup of darts, which is very entertaining, nice to see some players not often seen on TV.

#TuchelOut

To continue, in the last week I've watched both Nations League semis and Final, saw Italy get hammered by Norway and Belgium v Wales and almost capacity crowds at all these games. I think playing the likes of Andorra or San Marino could be scaled back but otherwise it's all good stuff. Having said that International football is a meritocracy, unlike cricket or both rugby codes, if you're a member of the organised world game, ie member of FIFA, you play as many games as the big boys by right. 35 minutes, it's virtually Dean Henderson versus Senegal. 1-1 now after 44 minutes, another disappointing England display so far.

England v Senegal, a meaningless friendly but I can't spy an empty seat at City Ground, so fans want them, particularly outside of Wembley games. 18 minutes England 1-0 , how is a mystery, Senegal the better team by far.

Norway 3 Italy 0 Italy already 9 pts behind Norway, 7 games to go. Will.they miss out again?

Frightening performance from Spain against France, 5-1 after 68 minutes. Lamine Yamal is going to be the new Messi, a generational talent. Spain have destroyed the French...so far, with a young team who seem unstoppable. Final on Sunday against Portugal. 78 minutes 5-2 a great French goal, well match definitely worth the £2.49 I paid Amazon PPV. Did I write France off too soon? 83 minutes 5-3 FT 5-4 , Excellent start to the International/ Club World Cup/ Women's Euros summer, then it all starts again. 12 month season now , very hard for other sports to get attention.

The club World Cup is all about FIFA trying to get a slice of the wealth that UEFA has from their club comps. If it remains as a once in every 4 years tournament then I'm okay with it. If it makes money for teams from non European confederations that'll be good, as we must remember African, Asian and even Sth American confederations don't enjoy the huge riches UEFA enjoy. My gripe is with the qualifying route. I can't convince myself the winner is rightly going to be world champions. It should be only the teams who have won European trophies this season or last, or over a four year cycle, and other confederations winners. So erm.. Tottenham should be there, World champions and 17th in the league....makes perfect sense.

Quite right, my mistake. Ten minutes to kick off and still no commentary on Amazon Prime, just pictures. I know I've only paid £2.49 for this , but I expect commentary! Edit- hooray commentary at last, now a delayed kick off due to hailstones.

Just gauging up the opposition for WC next year, see who we're going to lose to in the SF or Final.