How Sunderland, Leeds United and Leicester City's average attendance this season compares | OneFootball

Highlights

The Championship is recording big attendances once again this campaign.

With big clubs like Leeds United, Leicester City and Southampton coming down from the Premier League, and the likes of Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday coming up from League One, there are arguably more fans watching the Championship than there have been for a long time.

The Championship is also very competitive so far this season, with the race for automatic promotion, the play-offs and the relegation battle all very open as we head into the run-in.

Here we compare the average attendances of the three teams with the highest in the second tier - Leicester, Leeds and Sunderland.

Leicester City - King Power Stadium

30,966

It is no surprise that the Foxes have such a high attendance.

Leicester are currently top of the Championship, and are 11 points clear of Southampton in second.

Enzo Maresca is the man in charge, after leaving Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City. However, Maresca has recently threatened to leave due to the fans’ displeasure over his style of play.

Leicester are looking like one of the best teams the Championship has ever seen, regardless of what the fans think, and could even go on to break Reading’s points record of 106.

Leeds United - Elland Road

35,851

Leeds are arguably the biggest team in the division when you look at their history.

Having also been relegated from the Premier League last season, the Whites appointed former Norwich City manager Daniel Farke ahead of the season.

Leeds are currently third in the Championship, just one point behind Southampton in second place.

They are firmly in the race for a place in the top two, but with Southampton and Ipswich also vying for second place, it will go down to the wire.

Sunderland - Stadium of Light

40,969

The Black Cats have had a mixed season so far. They are currently in eighth place, just one point off of the play-off positions.

They started the season under the guidance of Tony Mowbray. He was then sacked in early December, having won just twice in his last nine games in charge.

He was then replaced by Michael Beale, who has been an unpopular appointment so far with the Sunderland fanbase.

Sunderland not only have the highest attendance out of the three, but have the highest in the division. It is worth noting that the capacity of the Stadium of Light is significantly higher than that of the King Power Stadium and Elland Road.

When you compare Sunderland’s season to Leeds and Leicester, it is a lot worse.

It is testament to Sunderland’s fans that they continue to show up in their numbers, despite the team not doing as well as they would like.

Sunderland have shown this season their fans at their best, and it’s the FA Cup match against bitter rivals Newcastle United standing out in particular.

It will be interesting to see whether Sunderland’s attendance dips if they drop away from the play-off positions come the end of the season.