The re-signing has made headlines around the world, but can’t make up for dull football in recent years
Arjen Robben’s return to FC Groningen was literally world news, and helped create a run on season tickets at FC Groningen. As a result, the club is already in a much better financial situation, but there the season ticket record hasn’t yet been broken. Matthijs van Houten of GIC.nl has researched the numbers.
The number of season tickets sold by FC Groningen keeps increasing, with more than 11,000 now bought. This is more than 2,000 more compared to last season, but nowhere near the levels that the “Pride of the North” once had. In the run-up to the 2011/2012 season, for example, more than 16,000 season tickets were sold.
Overview of recent seasons:
2011/12: 16,186
2012/13: 14,564
2013/14: 12,729
2014/15: 12,598
2015/16: 14,016
2016/17: 12,167
2017/18: 10,342
2018/19: +/- 9,000
2019/20: +/- 9,620
About 4,000 seats are still available for the coming season.
The decrease in the number of season tickets in recent years is linked to less entertaining football in the stadium. Many fans found, on average, that they weren’t satisfied with how the team has played.
Arjen Robben will hopefully contribute to a more attacking style at the club; and is a player that supporters can really rally around. This hasn’t been the case at FC Groningen in recent years, although Ritsu Doan’s eye-catching performances (that led to him signing for PSV Eindhoven) are a recent bright spark.
Image via Wikimedia user Wutsje. License here.
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