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Overseas fans cause rise in LaLiga ticket sales

LaLiga has seen a 42 per cent increase in ticket sales since the 2015-16 season, in part due to overseas fans coming to watch games.

For the first time in three seasons, Barcelona has shifted the most tickets in the Spanish league, according to a report from StubHub.

Barcelona, which plays at the 99,354-capacity Camp Nou stadium, saw more than 97,930 fans attend its May 2018 match against Real Madrid. The club’s lowest attendance in 2017-18 was against Las Palmas, which 48,336 fans bought a ticket for. The club’s average attendance for the season was 69,256.

The previous season saw its rival Real Madrid, which plays at the 81,044-seater Santiago Bernabéu stadium, raking in the highest number of ticket sales. Meanwhile, the LaLiga club announced today (Friday) that its operating revenue for 2017-2018 reached €750.9m ($871m), an 11 per cent increase from the previous year.

The figure, which doesn’t include gains from the transfers of players, represents an increase of more than €76m, the largest rise for the club in a financial year since 2000.

Other teams selling high volumes of tickets include Atletico Madrid and Valencia, the other two Spanish Champions League teams this season.

Meanwhile, Real Sociedad and Eibar enjoyed a 135 per cent and 74 per cent growth, respectively, and were the teams with the most significant increase from the 2015-16 season.

Image: Börkur Sigurbjörnsson