The biggest largest attendances in English football history are detailed and celebrated below, accompanied by their Premier League equivalents for each club.
Additionally, three other big clubs have been added, purely in the interest of interest.
Tottenham Hotspur
- Spurs Record Attendance: 85,512 vs Bayer Leverkusen (November 2016)
Playing their Champions League games at Wembley paved the way for an all-time record crowd for any English side as seemingly half of North London turned up to see Mauricio Pochettino’s men come unstuck against an under-estimated opposition.
Spurs were the pre-match favourites in the football betting odds but a strike by Kevin Kempl on the hour-mark resulted in the masses leaving disappointed.
- Spurs Record Premier League Attendance: 83,222 vs Arsenal (February 2018)
With Tottenham now fully decamped at Wembley to allow their magnificent new stadium to be constructed another enormous crowd showed up for the 182nd North London Derby, one that felt very meaningful at the time.
Spurs were in the ascendancy, in the title reckoning and blessed with having a striker in Harry Kane who seemed to score every week. The England man duly slotted home the only goal here.
As for the Gunners, it was the end of days of Arsene Wenger’s long tenure. No-one knew at this point what the future held for them.
Manchester City
- Man City Record Attendance: 84,569 vs Stoke City (March 1934)
A record for an English club’s home match until Tottenham played at Wembley in 2016, Manchester City and Stoke City played in front of nearly 85,000 fans in the sixth-round of the 1933/34 FA Cup at Maine Road.
Manchester City saw off the Potters on their way to winning their second FA Cup. No history, eh?
- Man City Record Premier League Attendance: 54,693 vs Leicester City (February 2016)
Ask any Leicester fan and they will tell you that this was the day when they actually started to believe that a ridiculous, far-fetched, fairy tale league title was indeed up for grabs.
The Foxes took an early lead courtesy of Robert Huth and never looked like losing thereafter, relentlessly hitting City on the break. It ended 3-1 but in truth it could have been more.
A recently opened South Stand expansion explains the record attendance, the Etihad’s capacity soon after being reduced slightly.
Chelsea
- Chelsea Record Attendance: 82,905 vs Arsenal (October 1935)
It is astonishing to think that double Stamford Bridge’s current capacity crammed into the same famous stadium all those decades back to witness a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
This clash may have pre-dated Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger by about seventy years but the rivalry was alive and thriving even back then.
Separated by just two points at the end of the season, neither side threatened eventual champions Sunderland a great deal, although Arsenal did win the cup.
- Chelsea Record Premier League Attendance: 46,824 vs Manchester United (November 2003)
A few months into Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea reign, just shy of 47,000 were at the Bridge to see Claudio Ranieri’s Blues edge past Manchester United thanks to a Frank Lampard penalty.
There were big names aplenty on show, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy, John Terry and Claude Makelele.
Manchester United
- Man United Record Attendance: 81,962 vs Arsenal (January 1948)
Relocated to Manchester City’s Maine Road because of bomb damage to Old Trafford, Manchester United hosted over 80,000 fans for a 1948 clash with Arsenal.
As the country recovered from the Second World War, the two teams who dominated the early Premier League years battled for the Division One title.
Arsenal lifted the trophy at the end of the 1947/48 campaign a few months after a 1-1 draw at Maine Road with their closest challengers.
- Man United Record Premier League Attendance: 76,098 vs Blackburn Rovers (March 2007)
Sir Alex Ferguson’s United completed some of the Premier League biggest wins at Old Trafford. They lifted league trophies there. They enjoyed famous European nights that live long in the memory.
Yet none of them had a bigger attendance than this perfectly ordinary March afternoon, when mid-table Blackburn were comfortably dispatched.
Everton
- Everton Record Attendance: 78,299 vs Liverpool (September 1948)
The post-war football boom saw crowds swell at every ground. Add in that this was a Merseyside derby and unsurprisingly it was a sell-out.
An early season encounter saw the great Bob Paisley starting for Liverpool and Joe Mercer for the Toffees. The match ended 1-1 with Jock Dodds getting on the scoresheet for the hosts at a packed Goodison.
- Everton Record Premier League Attendance: 40,552 vs Liverpool (December 2004)
The Toffees finished fourth this season, securing Champions League football for the first time, and here a very decent side featuring Tim Cahill, Duncan Ferguson and Nigel Martyn between the sticks executed their first derby win in over five years.
A moment of sheer quality from Lee Carsley punctuated a tense, tight contest, the midfielder’s long-ranger leaving Chris Kirkland rooted to the spot.
Aston Villa
- Aston Villa Record Attendance: 76,588 vs Derby County (March 1946)
Just months after the end of the Second World War, a whopping 76,588 people piled into Villa Park to watch the first leg of Aston Villa’s FA Cup tie with Derby County.
A pair of late goals from The Rams saw them win a seven-goal thriller 4-3 in Birmingham before eking out a 1-1 draw in the second leg.
Derby beat Birmingham City in the last four and won a dramatic final against Charlton Athletic to lift their first and only FA Cup.
- Aston Villa Record Premier League Attendance: 45,347 vs Liverpool (May 1994)
It had been a frustrating campaign for both teams, Villa finishing tenth, despite being blessed with a terrific forward line. Liverpool for their part concluded their season in eighth as they reluctantly embarked on several years of mediocrity.
Only one of them went into the summer with a smile on their face and it was the hosts, who overturned a first-half deficit via two goals by Dwight Yorke.
Some of football’s greatest quotes were coined by Bill Shankly. You have to wonder what he would have said about the seasons of struggle that came next.
Sunderland
- Sunderland Record Attendance: 75,118 vs Derby County (March 1933)
Sunderland hosted Derby County in an FA Cup sixth-round replay in the early 1930s and drew a crowd just shy of the current capacity of Old Trafford.
The official capacity was around 60,000 at the time, but an extra 15,000 or fans squeezed in to witness Derby scrape a 1-0 away victory.
The Rams went on to lose to Manchester City in the semi-final played in Huddersfield. As for Sunderland, they would get their hands on the cup four years later.
- Sunderland Record Premier League Attendance: 48,355 vs Liverpool (April 2002)
Like their record crowd at Roker Park, Sunderland’s highest Premier League attendance – which came at the Stadium of Light – also ended in a 1-0 defeat.
That seems apt for a club that historically has a habit for snatching heartbreak from the jaws of glory.
Liverpool were the winners on this occasion, with Sunderland’s Claudio Reyna being sent off in the 89th minute to compound Mackem misery.
Arsenal
- Arsenal Record Attendance: 73,707 vs RC Lens (November 1998)
The Gunners were granted permission to play their Champions League home games at Wembley in order to boost attendances and after a seven year absence from the competition fans duly flocked to the national stadium.
Alas, their French opponents put a major dampener on what could have been a special night, smuggling away with them a 1-0 win.
- Arsenal Record Premier League attendance: 60,383 vs Wolves (November 2019)
The Emirates had never before been so jam-packed despite this being a fairly ordinary fixture and, ultimately, a perfectly forgettable outcome.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the hosts ahead halfway through the first half only for Raul Jimenez to equalise late on.
Newcastle United
- Newcastle Record Attendance: 68,386 vs Chelsea (September 1930)
Held at the odd kick-off time of 6.15pm on a Wednesday evening – this of course being prior to the introduction of floodlights – the Magpies rewarded their bumper crowd with a narrow 1-0 victory, the heroically-named Jack Cape grabbing the winner.
- Newcastle Record Premier League Attendance: 52,227 vs Chelsea (November 2023)
Chelsea again were the visitors but this time the scoreline was far more emphatic, Eddie Howe’s men racking up a 4-1 triumph courtesy of an exhilarating second half showing.
The result rekindled hopes of a top four spot for the newly-minted North-East giants.
Liverpool
- Liverpool Record Attendance: 61,905 vs Wolves (February 1952)
Pre-Shankly and pre-everything we associate with the Reds today, Liverpool were the FA Cup underdogs in 1952 when they entertained a feted Wolves side complete with the great Billy Wright.
The visitors would soon embark on a series of title-winning campaigns but here they found themselves surprisingly outclassed on the day, exiting the competition 2-1.
We can only imagine the thunderous din from the Kop.
- Liverpool Record Premier League attendance: 57,158 vs Man United (December 2023)
The new, expanded Anfield Road Stand was opened in time for the latest squabble between these two famous names, a match-up that very rarely failed to ignite.
Alas, on this occasion it did, United’s stoic defence keeping out Salah and company throughout to ensure a dull goalless stalemate.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
