Scottish football does a lot of things the hard way, but filling grounds is not one of them. Figures published by Uefa show Scottish Premiership attendances passed four million for the first time last season, and that once you adjust for how few people live in Scotland, no country in Europe comes close.
Twice the rate of the next best nation
The total came to 4.1m, with average top-flight gates of 17,903, up three per cent on the previous campaign. Only England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands drew bigger crowds overall, and all six have populations several times the size. Measured per head of population, Scotland sits at close to 20 attendees per 1,000 residents. Norway is next and is not quite half of that.
Add everything together and roughly six million Scottish supporters watched men's football during 2025-26: the four million in the Premiership, 900,000 in the lower divisions, 200,000 at domestic cup ties and 800,000 at European matches. The season ended with Celtic defending their title on the final day at home to Hearts, who had spent much of the year pushing them.
Celtic and Rangers both past a million
Celtic were the only club outside Europe's big five leagues to exceed one million for home league attendances alone, and their combined home crowds across domestic and European football reached almost 1.5m. Rangers passed the million mark once all competitions were counted. Those two numbers carry a lot of the national total, but the growth is broader than Glasgow: the three per cent rise in the average gate applies across the division.
The figure that worries the SFA
There is a less comfortable line in the same report. Just over two-thirds of all Premiership minutes last season were played by players who are not Scottish. The European average for non-locally-trained minutes is 47 per cent, and only Greece, Portugal and Turkey have a lower share of home-developed talent than Scotland does. Norway, Spain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Sweden all sit above 60 per cent for locally trained players.
The Scottish FA has submitted proposals aimed at increasing playing time for young Scottish players, and SPFL clubs will vote on them in November. Whether clubs who are already selling out want to be told who to pick is a separate question, and the answer will arrive in the autumn.
Attendance facts: Scottish Premiership 2025-26 total attendance 4.1m, average gate 17,903, up 3 per cent. Approximately 6m Scottish supporters attended men's matches in all competitions. Celtic exceeded 1m for home league crowds; Rangers passed 1m across all competitions. Figures from Uefa's European club talent and competition landscape report.
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