IIHF Releases Annual Attendance Rankings

I've been keeping track of four leagues myself throughout the year (and hope to add additional ones through the offseason), and will have more to come on that in the future, but the IIHF released their annual attendance rankings this year for European clubs and leagues today.  If you're curious about the popularity of hockey as entertainment around the continent, it's a good starting point.  Germany continues to dominate the top 5, with three clubs from the DEL cracking the list.  A KHL club joins them, but not a Russian team:  Dinamo Minsk of Belarus moved up 58 spots to 3rd after playing their entire season in their brand new, 15,000+ capacity seat arena that will play host to the 2014 IIHF World Championships.  Here's the top 20, while the top 100 can be seen here on the IIHF's website:

Top 20 European Hockey Clubs - 2010-11 Attendence

Rank	Club	League	Country	Average Att.
1	SC Bern	NLA		15,856
2	Eisbaren Berlin	DEL		13,946
3	Dynamo Minsk	KHL		10,538
4	Kolner Haie	DEL		9,696
5	Adler Mannheim	DEL		9,689
6	HC Frolunda Gothenburg	SEL		9,378
7	Avangard Omsk	KHL		9,303
8	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl	KHL		8.998
9	HC Pardubice	CEL		8,922
10	Jokerit Helsinki	SML		8,490
11	SKA St. Petersburg	KHL		8,170
12	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	KHL		7,998
13	KHL Medvescak Zagreb	EBEL		7,837
14	ZSC Lions (Zurich)	NLA		7,640
15	Dinamo Riga	KHL		7,619
16	Djurgarden Stockholm	SEL		7,401
17	Kometa Brno	CEL		7,165
18	Traktor Chelyabinsk	KHL		7,157
19	Amur Khabarovsk	KHL		7,078
20	Hamburg Freezers	DEL		7,037

I believe Medvescak Zagreb becomes the first EBEL (Austrian League) team to crack the top 20 on this list.  They are a real success story, making hockey popular in the capital of a country (Croatia) that is ranked way down at 26th in the world according to the IIHF.  Zagreb joined the EBEL in 2009-10, and have been the most popular team since their arrival, despite finishing in the bottom half of the league both years.  The team played four games at the 15,200 capacity Arena Zagreb this year, selling out the venue in addition to drawing over 6500 per game at their regular venue. 

The NLA drew the most fans on average to games as a league, followed by the Elitserien, though due to volume the KHL (which has 23 teams to the NLA and SEL's 12 each) drew the most fans to their arenas.  Hockey's popularity in Sweden is still very high, though, as two Allsvenskan teams (Leksands IF and Malmo Redhawks) outdrew Sodertalje, the Elitserien's poorest draw.  Germany's DEL has severe drops in attendance after their top 4 clubs, and rank fourth overall in average league attendance as a result. 

It'll be interesting to see what impact a KHL team in Poprad could have on hockey attendance in Slovakia:  their Extraliga finished eighth amongst leagues, well behind the EBEL (which admittedly was greatly boosted by Zagreb).  A brand new arena in Bratislava should help matters, as only HC Kosice (33rd) and HK Poprad (92nd) made the top 100 out of Slovakia.

Meanwhile, hockey is making inroads in other ways as well:  While only one French club made the top 100 (Grenoble at #98), the French Cup Final drew 13,364 fans at the Paris-Bercy.  The French Cup competition is the same format as national cup races in football, like England's FA Trophy, where teams from every level within the country compete for the top prize.