billsportsmaps.com

July 31, 2016

2016–17 Premier League (1st division England, including Wales – location-map with chart: 14/15-&-15/16-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division./+ the 3 promoted clubs for 2016-17 (Burnley, Middlesbrough, Hull City AFC).

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2016–17 Premier League (1st division England, incl Wales): map w/ 15/16-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division




By Bill Turianski on 31 July 2016; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2016–17 Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…PREMIER LEAGUE [Summary] (soccerway.com).
-2016-17 Premier League kits (historicalkits.co.uk).
-New crests for Manchester City and West Ham United (among others)…New season, new badges: We take a look at club crests which have changed for 2016/17 (skysports.com/football).

    Below: the 3 promoted clubs for 2016-17 (Burnley, Middlesbrough, Hull City AFC)…

Burnley return straight back to the Premier League, as does the 2nd-division play-offs winner Hull City AFC. Middlesbrough finished in 2nd place in the second division last season, and now return to the Premier League after a 7-season absence.

    •Burnley FC

Est. 1882. Nickname: the Clarets. Colours: Claret and Sky-Blue. Location: Burnley, Lancashire, situated (by road) 45 km (28 mi) N of central Manchester; also, Burnley is situated (by road) 20 km (12 mi) E of hated rivals Blackburn. Population of Burnley is around 73,000 {2011 census}.

Manager: Sean Dyche (age 45, born in Kettering, Northamptonshire).

From Reddit.com/soccer, Team Preview: Burnley.

2015-16 Football League Championship winners Burnley return straight back to the Premier League. 2016-17 will be Burnley’s 54th season in the 1st division…but it will be only the Clarets’ 3rd season in the top tier in the last 41 years. (Burnley were a founding member of the Football League, and played in the inaugural season of the English First Division in 1888-89./ Burnley League history (1888-89-2015-16).) Burnley have won the English title twice – their first championship was won in 1920-21, and their second title was won in 1959-60. Burnley also have 1 FA Cup title (1914), as well a two more appearances as an FA Cup finalist (losing to Charlton in 1947, and losing to Tottenham in 1962).

In 1959-60, Burnley pipped Wolverhampton and Tottenham for the title…
Burnley had a well-developed youth team set-up in the 1950s, and almost the entire title-winning-squad of 1959-60 had came through the Burnley youth team. During this period, Burnley became innovators as the first English club to train on a purpose-built training complex nearby their ground (as opposed to what every other club was doing back then, which was to simply train on the pitch they played their matches on, churning up their own home-field-playing-surface in the process). In 1958, former Burnley FW Harry Potts became Burnley manager (Potts served two spells at the helm of Burnley [1958-70; 1977-79]). The Burnley squad of that era was built around the midfield duo of Northumberland-born team-captain and right-half Jimmy Adamson (you can see him in the squad photo below at front-centre directly behind the trophy), and attacking-midfielder Jimmy McIlroy. The County Antrim-born McIroy, dubbed the Brain of Burnley, was an attacking-midfielder/inside-forward with neat footwork and a finely-honed passing ability. Jimmy McIroy scored 116 league goals for Burnley from 1950-62, and was a Northern Ireland international (below, on the left, you can see a photo of McIlroy, and an illustration of him playing for Northern Ireland). In the tightly-contested 1959-60 season, Burnley chased Wolverhampton and Tottenham the entire campaign, and only reached first place on the final day of the season, when they beat Manchester City 1-2 at Maine Road. But in 1962, the chairman of Burnley, Bob Lord, sold McIroy to Stoke City for a cut-rate £25,000, a move that some Burnley supporters labeled ‘insane’, and the Burnley team never was the same. And that began Burnley’s decline, a decline which saw the Clarets out of the First Division/top flight for 33 seasons. There was no first tier football for Burnley from 1976-77 to 2008-09…and that included the club’s nadir of a 7-season spell stuck in the Fourth Division in the 1980s-and-early-1990s. In the late 1990s, the club named a newly-rebuilt stand after Jimmy McIlroy (photos of the Jimmy McIlroy Stand can be seen further below).
Below is an illustration in honor of the title-winning 1959-60 Burnley squad (which I first posted in March 2008/ image below first appeared here, http://billsportsmaps.com [Burnley FC].
burnley1960_j_mcilroy.gif
Image credits above – Jimmy McIroy photo unattributed at Clarets-Mad site, at clarets-mad.co.uk/ [article: We've wiped away our history]. Unattributed illustration of Jimmy McIroy playing for Northern Ireland, from NIFG site nifootball.blogspot.com/2007/04/jimmy-mcilroy. Photo of title-winning 1959-60 Burnley squad, photo unattributed at The Longside [Burnley fan-site] thefootballnetwork.net /[Burnley fan-site]. Photo of 59/60 Burnley jersey, from Toffs [image no longer there at...] toffs.com/retro-football-shirts/burnley. Burnley 1960 coach-top champions’ parade, photo from Lancashire Telegrapah, such as lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/Burnley Title win down to team effort.

Burnley FC have a very tiny catchment area…
When you look at a map of the highest-drawing clubs in England {here}, which shows how over-crowded with big and not-so-big clubs it is up in Lancashire, Merseyside, and Greater Manchester…and then when you look at how small the population of the town of Burnley is (about 73,000)…well, you can see why Burnley are a frugal club. Because, from where can Burnley hope to attract fans, what with Man U and Man City and Bolton and Wigan and Blackburn all within 30 miles of Burnley’s Turf Moor? And northwards, into central and northern Lancsashire and then into Cumbria and the Lake District, the population thins out considerably. And in the other direction, east, is the Pennines, which is a physical as well as a cultural barrier, because on the other side of the Pennines is Yorkshire, and you can forget about getting any people from Yorkshire to support a Lancashire club. So Burnley is boxed in, and the Clarets are doomed to have a very small catchment area for potential fans. And thus Burnley have become a club that is known for spending within its limited means. At the start of the 2014-15 Premier League season, some scoffed at the then-newly-promoted-Burnley for not spending any money at all on new players, and then they went straight back down. But now, two years later here they are back in the Premier League…and Burnley did it flying under the radar and once again without splashing the cash around. Although in July 2016 they did buy, from Charlton, an Iceland starter (the MF Jóhann Gudmondsson).

Burnley’s squad is notable for its preponderance of British-and-Irish-born players…
Over three-quarters of Burnley’s squad is from the United Kingdom or from Ireland. Take a look at their current squad and see what I mean…when I wrote this on 27 July 2016, Wikipedia listed 27 players on Burnley’s first team squad, 16 of which are England-born, 3 of which are Northern-Ireland-born, 2 of which are Republic-of-Ireland-born, one of which is Scotland-born, one of whom is also a key player on the Wales national team (Sam Vokes). If you do the math you find that that’s 22 of 27 Burnley players (81%) coming from the British Isles (England/Northern Ireland/Scotland+Ireland)}.
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Photo and Image credits above –
Screenshot of 2016-17 Burnley jersey, image by burnleyfootballclub.com. Aerial shot of Turf Moor with Burnley Cricket Ground alongside, photo by Simon Kirwan at the-lightbox.com. Shot of streets outside Turf Moor [Feb. 2014], with Jimmsy McIlroy Stand visible in background, photo by Richard Ratcliffe at summiteer.co.uk/2014/Feb2014/Burnley. Shot of club shop and cantilevered stand at Turf Moor with looming winter skies above, photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Interior/panoramic shot of Turf Moor, photo by Carlos Rosende at marcadorint.com/championship/burnley-turf-moor, Illustration of Burnley 2016-17 kits from en.wikipedia.org/Burnely_FC Andre Gray, photo by clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk. Sam Vokes, photo unattributed at theleaguepaper.com.

    •Middlesbrough FC

Est. 1876. Nickname: Boro. Colours: Red and White [usually with a wide band of white on their red jersey]. Location: Middlesbrough, Teesside, situated (by road) 65 km (41 mi) S of Newcastle. Population of Middlesbrough (borough-population) is around 138,000, while the Teesside built-up-area (aka Greater Middlesbrough) has a population of around 376,000 {2011 census}. That makes Middlesbrough the 18th largest Urban Area in the United Kingdom. {See this, List of urban areas in the United Kingdom (en.wikipedia.org).}

Manager: Aitor Karanka (age 42, born in Vitoria, Basque Country, Spain).

From Reddit.com/soccer, Team Preview: Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough finished in 2nd place in the second division last season, and now return to the Premier League after a 7-season absence (which was preceded by an eleven-season spell in the Premieer League, from 1998 to 2009). This season [2016-17] will be Middlesbrough’s 61st season in the top flight. (Boro’s first season in the 1st division was in 1902-03./ Middlesbrough League history here.) Middlesbrough has a scant League Cup in their trophy case (won in 2004), although they did make it to a UEFA Cup final (losing to Sevilla in 2006), as well as losing in both an FA Cup final and a League Cup final in the same disastrous season 20 years ago (in 1997, when Middlesbrough lost to Leicester City in the League Cup final, then were relegated by finishing in 19th place, and then lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup final).

Middlesbrough were under pressure to get back to the Premier League, and after a March locker-room-dustup, Boro finished undefeated (6-4-0)…
After Middlesbrough’s wrenching loss to Norwich City in the 2014-15 Championship play-offs final, and after a few years of considerable financial outlay by owner Steve Gibson, there was a great deal of pressure on the Boro squad and on the coaching staff to gain promotion last season. And the pressure almost got to manager Aitor Karanka. At one point in time in March 2016, it looked like Karanka was going to walk away from the club, after a dressing room row revealed that there were players secretly colluding against him. Karanka was actually not allowed at the training grounds the day after he stormed out of that meeting. But then, after Boro lost that weekend to relegation-doomed Charlton, and after another (emergency) meeting was called for by owner Gibson, Karanka and the players worked it out, and then Boro went 6 wins, zero losses and 4 draws in their final 10 games. {See this article posted right before the final match in May, from the Independent, Aitor Karanka has happy Middlesbrough on brink of big time after bump in the road (by Martin Hardy at independent.co.uk/sport/football).}

Boro’s cathartic pitch invasion of 7 May 2016…
And so getting that crucial result in the last match of the season (a 1-to-1 draw at home versus fellow-promotion-rivals Brighton, which clinched promotion), ended up in a joyous release of pent-up angst. And that release of anxiety manifested itself in one of the more exuberant pitch-invasions in recent memory. That pitch invasion was captured by visiting Seagulls fan and Instagram-ace Danny Last, in one of the best sports photos from the 2015-16 season {you can see that brilliant photo below, and you can see that photo along with others at: How Boro’s promotion party looked through the eyes of Brighton fans (Teesside Gazette at gazettelive.co.uk/football, by Graham Corking).}.

It’s great to see Middlesborough back in the Premier League. They might not have many titles, but they sure have devoted fans and they sure have history. This is the place where Brian Clough first made his mark (Clough, before he became legendary as Derby County and then as Nottingham Forest manager, played 12 seasons [1955-61], for a then-2nd-division Middlesbrough, scoring an astounding 197 league goals in 213 games). {Here is an article with illustrations that I posted in December 2007, Middlesbrough FC.} Beset by heavy industry, Middlesbrough is frankly charm-deficient and is not the sort of town that WAGS would want their top-shelf-footballer-partners to play for. The last thing Middlesbrough is, is glamorous. That’s why I can’t dislike them.
middlesbrough_promoted-7-may-2016_riverside-stadium_pitch-invasion_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits above –
Screenshot of 2016-17 Middlesbrough jersey, image from mfc.co.uk/news/article/2016/201516-home-and-away-premier-league-kits-revealed. Aerial shot of Riverside Stadium, photo unattributed at thejournal.co.uk, here. Entrance to the Riverside Stadium, photo by Chris Heaton at geograph.org.uk. 1st photo of Boro fans pitch invasion by Danny Last at instagram.com/p/BFHDUlGP91z/ and at How Boro’s promotion party looked through the eyes of Brighton fans (gazettelive.co.uk/sport). 2nd photo of Boro fans pitch invasion by Phil Noble/Reuters via theguardian.com. 3rd photo of Boro fans pitch invasion by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images via irishtimes.com/sport/soccer.

    •Hull City AFC

Est. 1904. Nickname: the Tigers. Colours: Amber and Black [usually with amber/black vertical-stripes on their jersey]. Location: Kingston upon Hull (aka Hull), East Riding of Yorkshire, situated (by road) 98 km (61 mi) E of Leeds. Population of Hull (borough-population) is around 257,000, while the Kingston upon Hull built-up-area (aka Greater Hull) has a population of around 314,000 {2011 census}. That makes Hull the 24th largest Urban Area in the United Kingdom.

Manager: ?

From Reddit.com/soccer, Team Preview: Hull City.

Hull City AFC return straight back to the top flight after having won the 16/17 League Championship play-off final. Hull is basically more of a rugby town than a football town. There are 2 first-division rugby league clubs in Hull – Hull City FC and Hull Kingston Rovers – and between them they average around 20-K-worth of fan support (or more). So it has always been an uphill battle for the Hull association football club to establish itself in the upper tiers of English football, because a sizable chunk of the local sports fans and a great deal of the local sports media are all oriented towards rugby. And the League history of Hull City AFC shows that plain as day, because the Tigers have been around for over 110 years, yet this is only their 5th season ever in the 1st division. (Hull’s first season in the top flight was in 2008-09./ Hull City AFC League history here.) Hull City have no major titles but were FA Cup finalist a couple of seasons ago (in 2014, losing to Arsenal).

Hull backed their way into the Premier League, and there are serious signs of fan-unrest up there on the Yorkshire coast…
Hull sort of backed their way into the Premier League last season, with a rather alarming minus-6.3-K-drop-off in attendance. That drop-off was basically twice-as-worse as they had the previous time they were relegated (they had a minus-3.2-K drop-off in 2010-11, after having been relegated in May 2010). That much larger drop-off in crowd size is mostly attributable to the continuing histrionics of owner Assem Allam (see the text-block in the crest-history section of the illustration below). There are a whole lot of longtime Hull City fans who have stopped going to games, because of the unhinged behavior of Allam. {To get a good look at the Hull City supporters many grievances with Allam, see this site, allamout.co.uk.} {Also see this, from the Hull City Supporters site, by Andy Mills, from March 2015, The divisive figure of Assem Allam.} Then on 21 June, manager Steve Bruce walked off the job. Bruce, who had been defending Allam for several years, now just seems to have had it. But by having bailed out less than 4 weeks before the start of the new season, Bruce has sullied his own legacy by bolting – thus leaving the club to twist in the wind. The widespread opinion is that Hull are a lock for going straight back down, again.

A Hull City fan at the comments section of a Guardian/football article, articulated the gloomy situation the best…
…”Thats why us fans are narked. We won’t sit by and watch a tinpot team. Remember the first time we got promoted to the prem? Packed out Wembley (highest play-off final attendance at that point) and won with a stunning volley from a local lad (Dean Windass). Filled the city centre to celebrate and painted the town black and amber. A few games in and we beat four London clubs on the trot to propel ourselves to joint-top part way into the season. We then made a fool of ourselves with a shocking dip in results and things like mid-pitch half-time team talks (entertaining non-the-less). But it was all fun and enjoyed with passion. This time around? Gruelling championship season with a niggling feeling of discontent and disengagement. Play-off final with less than 30,000 fans attending. :-( Numerous anti-Allam protests even though none of the Allam family attended the games. So, whats the reason for this build-up of discontent? Simply that we feel our club is being taken away from us. Made tinpot and plastic. Using it as a money-making machine, trying to market us to the middle east by renaming us Hull Tigers whilst completely alienating the existing fan-base. Telling loyal fans to join a membership scheme which scraps lower fees for kids and pensioners and telling us all to ‘earn your stripes’. I could go on. Steve Bruce provided a minor outlet for us with his great management through these difficult times, hence the big ‘In Bruce we Trust’ banners. Him leaving and no new appointment really is the final straw. From Hull: We will not accept a tinpot team as our local club, however successful you can make it. We want real passion, grit and pride. There’s still elements of those three attributes around, they’re just hard to find.”…(comment by whiterosetiger at Have Hull City suffered the worst-ever Premier League pre-season? by Louise Taylor at theguardian.com/football/blog).
hull-city-afc_the-kc-stadium_hull-city-name-and-crest-controversy_abel-hernandez_e_.gif
Photo and Image credits above –
Screenshot of 2015-16 Hull City AFC jersey, image from tigerleisure.com/jpg.
Hull City AFC crests through the years, most crest images from historicalkits.co.uk/Hull_City; 1979 badge is from a photo at Toffs, here ; 2000 tiger-in-white-shield crest is a photo from the Amber Nectar blog, [scroll down a bit for it at the following link...] ambernectar.org/blog/the-soul-of-hull-city. View of central Hull, screenshot from video uploaded by World Cities at youtube.com. Aerial image of the Humber Bridge, screenshot of video frame by Getty Images at gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/aerial-humber-bridge-over-estuary-east-riding-stock-video-footage. Photo of the KS Stadium, unattributed a kooora.com. Abel Hernández, photo by yorkshirepost.co.uk/football.
___
Thanks to the following…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Seasons in 1st division, England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2015/16 (rsssf.com).
-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.

Thanks to the contributors at en.wikipedia, at 2016–17 Premier League.

July 21, 2016

2016–17 [Non-League] National League (aka the Conference) [5th division England], map w/ 15/16-crowds-&-finish./+ features on the 4 promoted clubs (Solihull Moors, North Ferriby United, Sutton United, Maidstone United).

Filed under: 2016-17 English football,Eng-5th level — admin @ 2:11 pm

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2016–17 [Non-League] National League (aka the Conference) [5th division England], map w/ 15/16-crowds-&-finish




By Bill Turianski on 21 July 2016; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-2016–17 National League [England 5th division football] (en.wikipedia.org).
-5th division/National League page at BBC.com…bbc.com/sport/football/national-league.
-NATIONAL LEAGUE [Summary] (soccerway.com).
-Club colours…thenationalleague.org.uk/clubcolours.

2016-17 will be the second season of the re-branded 5th division in England (and Wales).
Since last season, rather than being called the Conference, the 5th division began being called the National League (groan). The 5th tier of the English football pyramid was instituted in 1979-80 as the Alliance Premier League, and in 1986-87 the 5th division (by then called the Conference), was first granted automatic promotion placement into the Football League. A second promotion-spot was granted for 2002-03 (4-team-play-off-winner). The league-winner last season [2015-16] was Cheltenham Town, while Grimsby Town defeated Forest Green Rovers to win the play-off final at Wembley.

So, just two teams go up to the Football League each season, yet 4 teams go down to the 6th level each season. That helps to further establish the dreaded 5th division Bottleneck, with the now-perpetual cycle of former-Football-League-teams finding themselves down on their luck and stuck in Non-League football. Currently, teams in that category are…Tranmere Rovers, Wrexham, Lincoln City, York City, Torquay United, Southport, Barrow AFC, Macclesfield Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, as well as two re-formed clubs (Gateshead and Chester). There are simply so many lower-League-sized-clubs now filling up the 5th tier that ex-Football-League clubs can languish there in the 5th division for years (like Lincoln City). Although, in the last two seasons, Bristol Rovers and now Cheltenham Town have bucked that trend, and have bounced straight back to the Football League at the first try.

As for the two-league 6th division, that was instituted in 2004-05. The 6th division is when the English football pyramid splits into regional leagues – the National League North and the National League South. Two teams from the North and the South get promoted to the 5th division each season, and the four currently-promoted clubs are featured further below.

The map…
I am using the same template as last year, when I covered the Football League’s 3 leagues and the Premier League (the 2016-17 versions of which will be forthcoming, starting with the Premier League location-map-&-chart, which is to be posted on 31 July 2016).

Here, the location-map shows all 24 clubs in the 2016-17 National League, with their crests shown. The larger British-Isle-map (showing 20 of the teams in the 16/17 National League) is flanked by an inset-map of Greater London (showing 3 of the teams in the 16/17 National League – Bromley, Sutton United, and Dagenham & Redbridge); the Greater London map also includes the surrounding area of parts of the Home Counties around the capital as well (showing one of the teams in the 16/17 National League – Boreham Wood, who are from southern Hertfordshire just north of the North London boundary). The main map includes the traditional counties of England plus widely-used regional names. In the London map I have included notable places of interest (such as Parliament/Westminster, Hyde and Regent’s Parks, and Greenwich Mean Time’s location in SE London), and some infrastructure (Wembley Stadium, the Dartford Crossing), plus I have listed the Home Counties surrounding London, plus the four-closest prominent towns (Watford, Medway Towns incl Gillingham, Slough, Southend-on-Sea).

The chart…
The chart on the right-hand side of the map-page shows the 24 clubs’ attendances, stadium-capacities, and league-finishes for the last two seasons [2014-15 and 2015-16], plus last season’s Percent-Capacity figures as well as Numerical Change in average attendance (from the previous season). At the far right are two columns: one for seasons spent in the English 1st division, and one for English major titles (English 1st division title, FA Cup title, League Cup title)…but none of this current crop of 5th division clubs has ever done either of those things. In case you are wondering, there have been 5th division clubs with top-flight history and even with titles, and last season saw a former-First-Division-side – Grimsby Town – win promotion back to the Football League (Grimsby played 12 seasons in the 1st tier [albeit not since 1947-48].) The only clubs with titles who ever played in the 5th division are Oxford United and Luton Town, and both those are quasi-tin-pot League Cup titles (both won in the 1980s).

Best-drawing clubs in the 5th division, currently…
Currently [2016-17], no club in the 5th tier has ever reached the rarefied air of the first division, and if I were to guess, I would say Tranmere Rovers are the biggest club in the 5th division this season. Tranmere Rovers are from Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula (which is part of Merseyside and is located across the Mersey Estuary from Liverpool). Tranmere drew 5.4 K in their first season down in Non-League in 2015-16 (finishing in 6th, 2 points off the play-off places). But don’t forget about Wrexham, who, as an entirely-supporter-owned entity these days, are debt-free and coming off a +1.3 K per game attendance increase last season (when they finished 8th), drawing 4.6 K up there in North Wales. To round out the top-drawing current-5th-tier sides…The just-relegated-back York City drew 3.2 K last season in League Two at Bootham Crescent. The now-5th-tier-mainstays Lincoln City drew 2.5 K at Sincil Bank in Lincolnshire. And the back-to-back-promoted Maidstone United, of Kent, drew an impressive 2.1 K last season in their sweet new stadium (see it further below). Maidstone played to a very-impressive-for-Non-League 69.6 percent-capacity, and they were the 3rd-best-drawing 6th division side in 2015-16. Only FC United of Manchester and Stockport County drew higher in the 6th level last season.

Full-time-pro clubs versus part-time-pro clubs in the 5th division – the distinctions are blurring…
Most clubs in the 5th division these days are full-time-professional, and even the handful of current part-time professional clubs in the National League essentially behave as if they are full-time-pro. In the old days [pre-1986-87], the Non-League/Football League divide was also the divide between amateur and professional clubs. These days, the majority of 5th-division/Non-League clubs are full-time professional. But it is rather hard defining who is fully pro and who is not. So to get to the bottom of this, I made contact with Richard Joyce, who is Press Officer at Forest Green Rovers. I had remembered that on his old FGR-based podcasts, he had described which Conference teams were still part-time [back in 2010-11].

Richard Joyce explained to me that in the 5th division now [circa 2014 or so], the lines between full-time-pro clubs and part-time-pro clubs have become blurred…”On the topic of clubs still operating as semi-professional sides – there are still quite a few. Sometimes it is difficult to tell which ones are because some train slightly more than your traditional part-time side in an attempt to get as many hours on the training field as possible. For example Boreham Wood train three times a week and in the mornings – which is just one less training session than FGR. So although that may mean they are close to being ‘part time’ they more or less have a full time schedule.
But there are still definite proper ‘semi-pro’ clubs such as Braintree Town, Bromley and North Ferriby United. Some other semi-pro clubs include Sutton, Maidstone, Solihull Moors and Woking, however some of those sides can sometimes train a lot more than you would associate with an ‘old school’ part-time team. They also sign a lot of full time players, who although are playing for a part-time club, still train and behave like they are full time professionals. With so many talented players available and unable to secure a move to a full-time outfit, they choose to join a part-time team which means they can still play at a good level in the National League. It depends financially where clubs position themselves but if they can work as many hours on the training field as possible to enhance their chances on matchdays then it seems like a good move to make”…
(Quote by Richard D Joyce, Press Officer at Forest Green Rovers FC).

    Clubs promoted from National League North & promoted from National League South, for 2016-17…
    (Solihull Moors, North Ferriby United, Sutton United, Maidstone United).

Promoted clubs from National League North, for 2016-17…
Solihull Moors FC. (Est 2007, via merger of Moor Green FC [6th-level-side] and Solihull Borough FC [8th-level-side].) Solihull, West Midlands (population 206,000/2011 figure). Solihull is 14.5 km (8 mi) E of Birmimgham, and Solihull is 24 km (15 mi) W of Coventry. Colours: Blue & Yellow [hoops]/ red-black-white [hoops] on the road. Nickname: the Moors. Manager: Marcus Bignot. Here is a recent article about Marcus Bignot…Marcus Bignot’s journey: From rejection at Birmingham to Solihull, via Crewe (by Ged Scott on 6 July 2016 at bbc.co.uk/sport).

This is the highest-league placement for the nine-year-old club. As Moor Green FC, pre-merger, the club was a charter member of the Conference North in 2004-05. Before and after the merger (in 2007), Moor Green/Solihull Moors were a mid-to-lower-table 6th tier side that never really threatened to win promotion, and drew less than 300 per game.

By 2014-15, when they finished 12th, Solihull Moors’ crowds had improved by about a couple-hundred-per-game and they were averaging 463. Then last season [2015-16], the Moors came out of nowhere to win the league by 9 points, increasing their average gate again by about a couple-hundred-per-game – to 671 per game, at their 3-K-capacity Damson Park located about a mile north of Solihull town centre. Here’s an article on the Moors’ 2016 promotion to the 5th level…Solihull Moors confirmed as National League North champions (thenonleaguefootballpaper.com).

As you can see below, Solihull Moors had a pretty nondescript crest prior to 2015 (it looked like lame and ugly clip-art, in a dismal colour-scheme of greenish-gold-and-black). But now Solihull Moors new crest rightfully incorporates – within a shield-device – design elements from the crests of the original two clubs which went on to comprise the new club. Plus the Moors no longer play in drab home whites with black pants, but rather in bold hoops. Solihull Moors are located somewhat close to central Birmingham, and are located about a half-mile from Birmingham International Airport (the flight tower for the airport is visible from the stands at Damson Park {see it here}), and, as it says in the Football Ground Guide website, ‘The ground is situated very close to Birmingham Airport, so you are ‘treated’ to a procession of planes taking off throughout the afternoon.’). There is a power-vacuum in Birmingham/West-Midlands-football these days (Aston Villa has imploded, Birmingham City are still going nowhere, and West Bromwich are surviving in the top flight – but just barely). So Solihull Moors could benefit from this, and the club could see a continued increase in attendance, and maybe the Moors will start to pick up some disaffected fans of the nearby and just-relegated Aston Villa.
solihull-moors_damson-park_crests_b_.gif
Photo credits above – Shots of main stand, 1st photo by solihullmoors.com.
2nd photo with main stand filled, photo by richardl1969 at stadiumsandcities.wordpress.com. Photo of Moors fans, photo by solihullmoorsfc.co.uk/news/[tickets]

North Ferriby United AFC. (Est. 1934.) North Ferriby, East Riding of Yorkshire (which is part of Greater Hull [population 433,000/2011 figure]). North Ferriby is 14 km (9 mi) W of Kingston-upon-Hull. Colours: Green & White. Nickname: the Villagers. Manager: Steve Housham.

Here is an excellent and informative article on NFUFC (from the Guardian, of course)…How North Ferriby’s village football team made the jump to the National League (by Richard Foster on 15 July 2016 at theguardian.com/football).

Promoted as play-off winners of National League North (North Ferriby Utd 2-1 Fylde). This is the highest-league placement for the 83-year-old club. In late 2011, North Ferriby were a relegation-threatened 7th division side. A year-and-a-half later (in May 2013), the Villagers had reversed course and won promotion to the 6th division. Now, after just 3 seasons in the 6th tier, Norh Ferriby continue their climb up the pyramid and will now make their 5th division debut for 2016-17. But North Ferriby United will face an uphill battle, as one of the smallest clubs in the 5th tier this season.

The Villagers play at the tiny 2.7-K-capacity Grange Lane, and drew only 446 per game in 2015-16. But that crowd-size more than tripled for their play-off final win over Fylde, when they drew 1.8 K and won it late in extra-time, with the winning goal in the 95th minute by Danny Hone {see fuzzy screenshot below}. Here is an article from the Hull Daily Mail….Brilliant North Ferriby United seal promotion to National League (on 14 May 2016 by Charlie Mullan at hulldailymail.co.uk).
north-ferriby-utd_grange-lane_eon-visual-media-stadium_east-riding-of-yorkshire_c_.gi
Photo credits above –
footballgroundguide.com. unattributed at footballtripper.com. Screenshot of promotion-winning-goal-celebration, from video uploaded by North Ferriby at youtube.com. North Ferriby squad celebrates their promotion, photo by hulldailymail.co.uk.

Promoted clubs from National League South, for 2016-17…
Sutton United. (Est. 1898.) Sutton are from the southern reaches of Greater London near the boundary with Surrey, and Sutton is about 17 km (10 mi) SW of central London. Colours: Amber & Chocolate. Manager: Paul Doswell.

Sutton Utd spent 6 seasons in the Conference – 5 seasons from 1986-1991, as well as the 1999-2000 season. And during that first spell in the 5th division in the late Eighties, Sutton had their historic giant-killing of 1st-division side Coventry City, in the 1988-89 FA Cup 3rd Round. {See this article I wrote 4 years ago on Sutton United’s legendary Cup-upset, 2011-12 FA Cup, Second Round Proper./ + Sutton United’s FA Cup Giant Killing – January, 1989 – Sutton United 2-1 Coventry City.}

Sutton United now return to the 5th tier after a 16-year absence. Last season, the U’s won the National League South on the second-to-last game of the season, on 23rd April 2016, when they beat Chelmsford City 2-0 in front of a solid 1.5 K at Borough Sports Park (aka Gander Green Lane). {See this article…Sutton United clinch promotion to the National League (bbc.co.uk/football).}

Sutton United these days average 1.0 K and still play at their Gander Green Lane (which opened in 1912 as a racing track). The pitch is now 3G there – that playing surface was installed in the summer of 2015. Like Maidstone United (see the Maidstone section further below), Sutton will be in promotion-limbo until 3G pitches are allowed in the Football League.
sutton-united_gander-green-lane_c_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot of Gander Greeen Lane, photo by suttonunited.net/info_stadium. View of Main Stand at Gander Green, photo unattributed at nescot.ac.uk/news. Standing terrace at Gander Green lane, photo by BeautifulGame15 at backpagefootball.com/400-sutton-united-fc-vs-dartford-fc-part-two. Screenshot of Sutton fans applauding the Sutton squad (and vice-versa) after Sutton clinched the 2016 National League South title, image from a youtube video uploaded by Clarets TV at youtube.com.

Maidstone United (II) (Est. 1992 as Maidstone Invicta, a Phoenix-club of Maidstone United FC (1897)./ Changed name to Maidstone United (II) in 1995.) Maidstone is in Kent, about 64 km (40 mi) SE of central London, by road [or 52 km/33 mi from London as the crow flies]. Nickname: the Stones. Colours: Amber & Black. Manager: Jay Saunders.

Maidstone United have now achieved back-to-back promotions. Maidstone were promoted as play-off winners of the 2016-17 National League South. The re-emergence of Maidstone United is a great story – they had the 3rd-highest crowd size in the 6th tier last season (only FC United of Manchester and Stockport County drew higher in the 6th division in 2015-16). On 14 May 2016, 17 miles NE of Maidstone, in Northfleet, Kent, before 3.8 K at Ebbsfleet United’s Stonebridge Road, Maidstone United won promotion to the 5th tier in a dramatic play-off final aet shootout win, beating their nearby rivals by the score of 2-2/4-3 on penalties. Maidstone FW Dimebe Dumaka had scored at the last gasp in added time, to even it up in the 121st minute. Then in the penalty shoot-out, Alex Flisher, Jack Paxman, Bobby-Joe Taylor and Dan Sweeney scored from the spot, while Maidstone GK/captain Lee Worgan made 2 penalty-saves, the latter of which was off of Ebbsfleet-brace-scorer Danny Kedwell…and the Stones were promoted. Here is an article…Ebbsfleet United 2 Maidstone United 2 match report (aet, Stones win 4-3 on penalties) (from 14 May 2016, by Chris Tucker at kentonline.co.uk).

Maidstone United’s new, compact (3.0 K-capacity), attractive, and very functional Gallagher Stadium (which opened in 2012), has helped swell crowds and helped propel Maidstone back up the pyramid. The original Maidstone United, which was wound up in 1992, were a charter-member of the 5th division in 1979, and went on to spend 3 seasons in the 4th division of the Football League (from 1989-1992). In 1989-90 the original Maidstone United (I) had their highest league-placement when they finished in 5th place in the 4th division and drew a peak 2.4 K per game. But 2 seasons later, the first version of Maidstone Utd had overspent themselves into oblivion. So Maidstone United (I) were wound up, and a re-formed club with a nucleus of the youth side was established that same year (1992). Twenty four years later [2015-16], the second iteration of Maidstone United (II) drew a healthy 2.1 K – in the 6th division – en route to promotion, so you could say that Maidstone United are back.

The only problem with Maidstone’s ascent is that they play on a 3G pitch, and the Football League still bans that, so until the rules change, Maidstone United are in a neutral mode with respect to another promotion push. Maidstone United’s Gallagher Stadium is the first purpose-built football stadium in Britain that utilizes a 3G pitch in its business model. See this, at the Wikipedia page for the Gallagher Stadium, where it says that…”Rather than the traditional choice of grass, Maidstone were the first English team to build a stadium with third generation artificial turf”…”The reasons for going with the synthetic turf were threefold, the first being to eliminate match postponements caused by waterlogging and freezing conditions, the second so that the pitch can be hired out, bringing in vital funds (around £120,000 to £150,000 profit per year), and thirdly so that the stadium can be a hub for all the club’s youth and community teams.”…”A major downside of the 3G pitch is that so far the club has only gained permission to use the pitch in the Football Conference [the National League/5th division].”…{excerpts from Gallagher_Stadium/3G Artificial Pitch (en.wikipedia.org)}.
maidstone-utd_gallagher-stadium_kent_promoted-to-5th-division-for-2016-17_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Aerial shot of stadium, photo by Gallagher Group at gallagher-group.co.uk/case-studies/maidstone-united-fcs-new-stadium. Interior shot from terrace behind goal, photo by Steve McCaskill at pixelsport.co.uk/2012/10/23/non-league-day-maidstone-united-5-0-dulwich-hamlet. Shot of a full-capacity main stand during a Maidstone game, photo by kentnews.co.uk/sport. Close-up shot of 3G pitch with main stand in background, photo by maidstoneunited.co.uk. Shot of captain Worgan lifting trophy with squad celebrating promotion, photo by Gary Browne at kentonline.co.uk.

___
-Thanks to the contributors at 2016–17 National League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Thanks to Nilfanion…Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Thanks to Soccerway for upper-divisions Non-League attendance figures, uk.soccerway.com/national/england/conference-national.
-Thanks to the excellent site known as Non-League Matters, for lower-division Non-League attendance figures, nonleaguematters.co.uk.

Special Thanks to Richard Joyce at Forest Green Rovers official site.

July 6, 2016

Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland): Highest-drawing football clubs (UEFA domestic leagues), for 2015 or 2015-16 seasons: all clubs which drew over 2,000 per game (65 clubs)./+Illustrations for the 12 highest-drawing clubs in the Nordic countries – all clubs which drew above 10 K per game (Hammarby IF, AIK Fotboll, Rosenborg BK, Malmö FF, FC København, Djurgården IF, IFK Göteborg, Brøndby IF, IFK Norrköping, Viking FK, SK Brann, Vålerenga IF).

Filed under: Denmark,Nordic: SWE/NOR/DEN/FIN,Norway,Sweden — admin @ 5:33 pm

nordic-countries_map_sweden_denmark_norway_finland_top-drawing-clubs_2015_2015-16_post_d_.gif
Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland): Highest-drawing football clubs, for 2015-16 or 2015 seasons: all clubs which drew over 2,000 per game (65 clubs)



By Bill Turianski on 6 July 2016; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Nordic nations (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands) [aka greater Scandinavia]…Nordic countries (en.wikipedia.org).
-Best attendances in Nordic leagues in 2015…Den nordiska publikligan (ecst.se/fotboll).

-Sweden’s top flight…2016 Allsvenskan
; ALLSVENSKAN [2016] (soccerway.com).

-Denmark’s top flight…2015–16 Danish Superliga
; SUPERLIGA [2016-17] (soccerway.com).

-Norway’s top flight…2016 Tippeligaen
; ELITESERIEN [2016 Tippeligaen] (soccerway.com).

-Finland’s top flight…2016 Veikkausliiga
; VEIKKAUSLIIGA [2016] (soccerway.com).

Below: Alfheim Stadion, home of Tromsø IL (of Tromsø, Norway).
Norway’s Tromsø IL are the northern-most first division football club in the world.
alfheim-stadion_tromso-il_the-northern-most-1st-div-football-club-in-the-world_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Map of Scandinavia/Finland by NormanEinstein at File:Norwegian Sea blank map.png (commons.wikimedia.org).Aerial shot of Tromsø with Alfheim Stadion, photo by groundhopping.se/[Tromsø]. Aerial shot of Tromsø at night, photo by Action Images via dailymail.co.uk. Shot of Alfheim Stadion with pile of snow in foreground, photo by AFP/Getty Images via dailymail.co.uk.

    Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland):
    Highest-drawing football clubs in 2016: all clubs which drew over 2,000 per game (65 clubs).

On the map page…
1). On the top-left-hand side are thumbnail descriptions of the 4 Nordic leagues whose teams are featured on the map. Noted are each of those 4 leagues’ current [2016] UEFA co-efficients (ie, league-ratings versus the rest of Europeans leagues within UEFA). One thing that a newcomer to Nordic football would need to know is the fact that 3 of the 4 primary Nordic leagues (Sweden, Norway, Finland) play a summer schedule (~April to November), while one league – Denmark’s Superliga – plays the standard schedule (ie, like most of the rest of Europe/ ~August to May).
1a). Right below that are 4 lists, showing the all-time title lists for each of the 4 countries, with the crests shown of the most-titled clubs from each of the 4 countries.
{Sources for title lists…
Sweden, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Swedish_football_champions#Total_titles_won_by_club;
Denmark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Danish_football_champions#Total_titles_won;
Norway, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Norwegian_football_league_champions#By_club ;
Finland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Finnish_football_champions#Performance_by_club.}
2). In the middle of the map-page is a long chart which shows the 65 clubs whose teams are on the map, with the following details…
2a). League the team is in, the team’s 2015-or-2015/16-league-finish, and the team’s divisional-movement from 2014-to-2016 (if any).
2b). Attendance in 2015-or-2015/16 [home league average attendance], ranked.
2c). Club name, with city/region description if not noted in club nomenclature.
3). The map, which shows Scandinavia-(Norway/Sweden/Denmark)-plus-Finland. [As with respect to the other Nordic countries...sorry, but no Icelandic or Faroe Islands teams drew above 2-K-per-game last year.]

Stadium shares
There are 3 instances of stadium-shares…in Gothenburg at Gamla Ullevi (a 3-way-share between: GAIS, IFK Göteborg, and Örgryte IS), in Stockholm at Tele2 Arena (a 2-way-share between: Hammarby IF and Djurgården IF), and in Helsinki at Sonera Stadion (a 2-way-share between: HIFK and HJK).

Notes on map
I have tried to make all the club crests on the map approximately the same size. From the original blank map I added lakes in Sweden and Finland, plus I also added flanking-edge areas not in the original blank map (in the Baltic States/Eastern Europe and in NE Netherlands). I did this because I had to tilt the original map to orient it in a more North-South axis. That was necessary because the original map’s focal point was the Norwegian Sea, not the Scandinavian Peninsula, and so Scandinavia-and-Finland looked distorted – until I tilted the whole map about ~20 degrees. I added one extra detail…the mighty Øresund Bridge. The Øresund Bridge is actually a 12 kilometre/8.5 mile-long bridge-and-tunnel. Completed in July 2000, it connects Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmö in Sweden. The Øresund Bridge is a physical manifestation of how interconnected the Nordic countries are.

Average attendance by league (2015 or 2015-16)…
Sweden, Allsvenskan: 9,961 per game.
Denmark, Superliga: 7,184 per game.
Norway, Tippeligaen: 6,711 per game.
Finland, Veikkausliiga: 2,574 per game.

    The 12 highest-drawing clubs in the Nordic countries in 2015 or 2015-16 – all clubs which drew above 10 K per game (2015 or 2015-16 season) -
    (Hammarby IF, AIK Fotboll, Rosenborg BK, Malmö FF, FC København, Djurgården IF, IFK Göteborg, Brøndby IF, IFK Norrköping, Viking FK, SK Brann, Vålerenga IF)

Highest-drawing Nordic team – Hammarby IF (Stockholm, Sweden)…
After a five-season spell in the second tier, Hammarby IF won promotion back to the Swedish top flight (the Allsvenskan), on the last day of the 2014 season {see photos below}. The next year (2015), Hammarby set the all-time record for average attendance in Sweden (and in all the Nordic countries), pulling in an impressive 25,507 per game (they finished in 11th place in 2015). Now, granted, Hammarby are playing in a sparkling new all-mod-cons sports palace (the Tele2 Arena), and that fact will have added to their crowd sizes. But their gate figures are nevertheless very impressive for Scandinavia.

Hammarby IF might seem to be an unlikely team to be the highest-ever-drawing Nordic football club, because they have only won only one Swedish title (in 2001/ all-time Swedish medal table, here). But the club has vast support among the working class of southern Stockholm and beyond. There are no plastic Hammarby fans looking for the reflected glory of a big, title-winning team. They simply support Hammarby because the club is part of them – even if the history of Hammarby IF is replete with blown chances, near-title-win-choke-jobs, and a seemingly eternal struggle to simply remain in (or return to) the top flight. The other sizable Stockholm-based clubs – AIK and Djurgården – might be able to rack up the titles, but neither can match Hammarby when it comes to filling a stadium up with supporters.

-Here is a nice post from Reddit/soccer on Hammarby…Small teams in the spotlight #8: Hammarby IF (reddit.com/r/soccer post uploaded by slicslack on 2 June 2015).
-Here is the article that was recommended in the above link, at the ESPN FC site…The story of Hammarby’s long-awaited return to Sweden’s Allsvenskan (espnfc.com/blog, article by Michael Yokhin on 7 April 2015).

hammarby-if_highest-drawing-swedish-team_nya-soderstadion_tele2-arena_stockholm_k_.gif
Photo credits above -
2015 Hammarby home jersey, photo by intersport.se/hammarby-fotboll-2015. View of central Stockholm, photo by Fotolia at travelguide.lufthansa.com/stockholm. Hammarby supporters during supportermarchen, the tradional walk from central Södermalm to the team’s home stadium, [which was at that point in time] Söderstadion , before the season’s first home game [photo from April 2013], photo by Arild Vågen at File:Supportermarschen 2013 09.jpg. Last game at Söderstadion/pitch invasion (June 2013), photo unattributed at aftonbladet.se. Aerial view of Tele2 Arena, with Ericsson Globe (aka Globen) adjacent, photo by [the main building contractors] Peab, at peab.se/tele2-arena. Street-view of Tele2 Arena from tpeinfill.com. Interior shot of Tele2 Arena, photo by groundhopping.se/Hammarby. Hammarby supporters’ pitch invasion upon winning promotion to the Allsvenskan [Oct. 2014], photo unattributed at i.ytimg.com/vi/bLFrjg-mfj0/maxresdefault.jpg via reddit.com/r/soccer post from 2 June 2015, here. Hammarby supporters’ pitch invasion upon winning promotion/photo 2, photo unattributed at i.imgur.com/h91zXjM.jpg via reddit.com/r/soccer post from 2 Nov. 2014, reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/2l2lft/hammarby_just_secured_promotion_to_allsvenskan. Hammarby fans in Tele2 Arena with flags and with scarves held up and with giant banner proclaiming ‘This Is Soderstadion’, photo by Anders Skoog via LG Skoog at runnersworld.se/blogs/lgskoog/mitt-87-e-rw-blogginlagg.htm.

2nd-highest-drawing Nordic team – AIK Fotboll (Solna, Greater Stockholm, Sweden)…
aik-fotboll_friends-arena_stockholm_d_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 AIK home jersey, photo by uksoccershop.com/AIK-Stockholm-Adidas-Home-Football-Shirt. Aerial view of Friends Arena [Sept. 2014], photo by Arild Vågen at File:Arenastaden September 2014.jpg. Night-time/exterior shot of Friends Arena unattributed at tripadvisor.se. Interior shot of Friends Arena with AIK supporters’ tifo, photo by bildbyran.se, via haik.se/fotboll/statistik/arena. AIK Ultras [2011], photo from jojjesplejs.com via europeanultras.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20&start=70.

3rd-highest-drawing Nordic team – Rosenborg BK (Trondheim, Norway)…
rosenborg-bk_highest-drawing-norwegian-team_lerkendal-stadion_trondheim_h_.gif
Photo credits above -
Rosenborg 2016 home jersey, photo by
aliexpress.com/Rosenborg-BK-Jersey. Aerial view of Trondheim, photo by Åge Hojem/Trondheim Havn at File:Overview of Trondheim 2008 03.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Tronheim in winter at twilight, photo by pitchmedia.com/photography/norway. Aerial view of Lerkendal Stadion, photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Rosenborg ultras with banners etc [photo from 2011 Rosenborg v Stabaek], photo unattributed at z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi. Alexander Søderlund being congratulated by teammates after scoring, image (screenshot) from youtube.com video uploaded by AllGoalsNorway at Rosenborg BK All Goals Tippeligaen 2015. Rosenborg players celebrating their 2015 title, photo unattributed at realfootytalk.com/2015/11/02/norwegian-tippeligaen-2015-round-29-review. Alexander Søderlund on a breakaway, photo by Rosenborg BK via vavel.com.

4th-highest-drawing Nordic team – Malmö FF (Malmö, Scania, Sweden…)
malmo-ff_swedbank-stadion_malmo-scania_b_.gif -
2016 home jersey, photo by Malmö FF at mffshopen.jetshop.se/match/matchklader/matchtroja-hemma-2016-barn. Aerial view of Malmö with Øresund Bridge in background, photo by Johan Wessman, News Oresund at File:Aerial view of Malmö towards south taken from Malmö Live 20131023.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). View of old city-center in , photo unattributed at besttraveltips.net. Aerial shot of Swedbank Stadin, photo unattributed at pinterest.com at s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com. MFF fans at Swedbank Stadion [2009], photo by mff-familjen.se via z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/ar/t12159.htm.

5th-highest-drawing Nordic team – FC København [aka FC Copenhagen) (Copenhagen, Denmark)...
fc-kobenhavn_highest-drawing-danish-team_telia-parken_copenhagen_2016-champions_e_.gif
Photo and image credits above - FC Copenhagen 2016 home jersey, photo by uksoccershop.com/2016-FC-Copenhagen-Adidas-Home-Football-Shirt. Aerial view of Copenhagen, image by Getty Images at gettyimages.com/detail/video/view-of-copenhagen-city-copenhagen-denmark-stock-video-footage. View of Copenhagen, photo unattributed at ems2016.org/welcome-to-copenhagen. Aerial view of Parken Stadium, photo unattributed at footballtripper.com/telia-parken-copenhagen-stadium-aerial. FC København fans' giant banner, photo from z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/index.php?showtopic=23016&st=44. Federico Santander, photo by Jan Christensen at gettyimages.com. Thomas Delaney, photo by Jan Christenson at gettyimages.com. Nicolai Jørgensen, photo by Jens Dresling at ekstrabladet.dk.
Kasper Kusk, photo by Lars Ronbog at gettyimages.co.uk. Mathias Jørgensen, photo by Lars Ronbog at gettyimags.co.uk. Youssef Toutouh, photo by Lars Ronbog at gettyimges.co.uk. Photo of players carrying manager Ståle Solbakken, photo by Lars Ronberg at gettyimages.com.
...

6th-highest drawing Nordic team - Djurgården (Stockholm, Sweden)...
djurgarden-if_tele2-arena_stockholm_d_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 Djurgården IF home jersey, photo by difshop.se. View of central Stockholm in winter, photo unattributed at pinterest.com at s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com. Aerial shot of Tel2 Arena lit up with Djurgården colours, photo unattributed at fmsweden.se/topic/27379-fm15-sr-djurgardens-if-du-ar-allt-jag-har. Djurgården fans with flags, photo by unattributed at jarnkaminerna.se. Djurgården fans with smoke bombs and tifo [April 2015], photo by Helena Avermark at jarnkaminerna.se/bilder/2015-04-13-hammarby-if-djurgardens-if.

7th-highest-drawing Nordic team – IFK Göteborg (Gothenburg, Sweden)…
ifk-goteborg_gothenburg_gamla-ullevi_i_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 IFK Göteborg home jersey, photo by IFK Göteborg at blavittshopen.web02.e37.se. Aerial view of Gothenburg, photo by Alamy via telegraph.co.uk/Swedish-city-embarks-on-6-hour-workday-experiment. View of central Gothenburg at night in winter, photo by Dick Gillberg at goteborgdaily.se/christmas-city-gothenburg-kicks-off. Aerial shot of Gamla Ullevi stadium, photo by powerphoto.nu/flygbilder-gamla-ullevi. Badges on a wall of the Gamal Ullevi stadium, showing the 3 clubs that call the stadium home: GAIS, IFK Göteborg, Örgryte IS, photo by groundhopping.se/IFKGoteborg. IFK Göteborg fans’ giant tifo banner, photo by IFK Göteborg at ifkgoteborg.se/For-supportrar/Tifofonden. Shot of IFK Göteborg fans with a myriad of flags and banners, photo by IFK Göteborg at ifkgoteborg.se/In-English/Welcome.

8th-highest-drawing Nordic team – Brøndby IF (Brondby, Greater Copenhagen, Denmark)…
From 27 Sept. 2015, VIDEO: Brondby supporters unveil gladiator-themed tifo at New Firm Derby (thescore.com)
brondby-if_brondby-stadium_gladiator-tifo_c_.gif
Photo credits above -
2015-16 Brøndby home jersey, photo unattributed at 3.bp.blogspot.com. Aerial shot of Brøndby Stadium, image from Bet25/TDC: Nye services med WiFi på Brøndby Stadion | brondby.com (youtube,com video uploaded by Brøndby IF). Brøndby fans’ tifo at Brøndby Stadium [Sept. 2015], photo unattributed from z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/ar/t33260.htm. [September 2015] 2 photos of…Brøndby fans’ giant banners depicting: Gladiator-in-coliseum-brandishing-severed-lion’s-head [the lion being their rivals' FC København's symbol], photo unattributed at dr.dk/sporten; 2nd photo, by Lars Ronbog/ Frontzone Sport/ Getty Images via thescore.com.

9th-best-drawing Nordic team – IFK Norrköping (Norrköping, Sweden)…
IFK Norrköping: 2015 Allsvenskan champions.
From UEFA.com/news, from 31 Oct. 2015, by Sujay Dutt, Norrköping defy the odds to lift Swedish title.
ifk-norrkoping_2015-allsvenskan-champions_ostgotaporten_emir-kujovic_e_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 IFK Norrköping home jersey, photo by IFK Norrköping at ifkshop.se/webshop. Aerial view of central Norrköping, photo by Göran Billeson at lansstyrelsen.se. Aerial shot of Östgötaporten, photo by M and F Foto at mfproject.com/norrkopingsidrottspark/gallery. Norrköping supporters with flags and scarves, image from video at fotbolldirekt.se/2015/09/06/video-peking-ultras-om-succeinsamling-for-flyktingar-samlat-in-55-00. 2015 top Allsvenskan scorer, IFK Norrköping FW Emir Kujović…1st photo by Nils Petter Nilsson/Ombrello/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com; 2nd photo (celebrating with teammmates), photo unattributed at media2.sillyseason.se. Shot of Norrköping coach Jan Andersson celebrating with trophy, photo by Getty Images via uefa.com. Shot of Norrköping players celebrating with trophy, photo by Janerik Henriksson/TT at dn.se/sport/fotboll/norrkoping-ar-allsvenska-mastare-2015.

10th-best-drawing Nordic team – Viking FK (Stavanger, Norway)…
viking-fk_viking-stadion_stavanger_preikestolen_c_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
2016 Viking FK home jersey, illustration by
futhead.com. Panoramic view of Stavanger, photo unattributed at kayak.com/Stavanger-Hotels. Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), which is 16 miles from Stavanger, photo by Terje Rakke/Nordic Life/Regionstavanger.com at visitnorway.com/stavanger-region. Aerial view of Viking Stadion by Viking FK, here. Viking fans with flags waving, photo by Lars Idar Waage at dagsavisen.no/stavanger.

11th-best-drawing Nordic team – SK Brann (Bergen, Norway)…
sk-brann_brann-stadion_bergen_d_.gif
Photo credits above -

2016 SK Brann home jersey, photo by SK Brann at shop.brann.no/produkter/drakter/2016-hjemmedrakt-lang-arm. Panoramic view of Bergen, photo unattributed at azamaraclubcruises.com/files/bergen-norway.jpg. View of Bergen city centre from a nearby hill, photo by Aqwis at File:SkansenSeptember2007 2.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Hanseatic commercial houses in Bryggen [old Bergen], photo unattributed at nordicvisitor.com/images/norway/bryggen-bergen-norway.jpg. Aerial view of Brann Stadion, photo by valrag at File:Brann stadium.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). SK Brann supporters group Bergens Blade Gutter’s pyro/tifo from 14 April 2014, photo from their Twitter.com page at tw.google4cn.com/BGG_08/media.

12th-best-drawing Nordic team – Vålerenga IF (Oslo, Norway)…
valernga_ullevaal-stadion_oslo_b_.gif
Photo credits above -
2016 Vålerenga home jersey, photo unattributed at a soccer-jersey-site-that-never-credits-sources. Aerial view of Oslo in summer, photo unattributed at telegraph.co.uk/jpg [from this article, at Aerial view of Oslo in the evening, photo unattributed at visitnorway.com/Summer-holidays-in-Norway. Aerial view of Ullevaal Stadion, photo by John Christian Fjellestad at panoramio.com, and at File:Ullevål Stadium from air.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Vålerenga fans with scarves held up, photo unattributed at tipsfotball.com/.jpg.

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Big Thanks to ecst.se/fotboll, for the list of all Nordic teams' attendances (2015 or 2014-15), at a Den nordiska publikligan [The Nordic Attendances] (ecst.se/fotboll). (This is where I got the idea for this map-and-post.)
Thanks to Soccerway for Denmark attendance figures.
Thanks to NormanEinstein at File:Norwegian Sea blank map.png (commons.wikimedia.org).
Thanks to the contributors at the following Wikipedia pages…
-Sweden’s top flight…2016 Allsvenskan / 2nd level: 2016 Superettan.
-Denmark’s top flight…2015–16 Danish Superliga / 2nd level: 2015-16 1. division (Denmark).
-Norway’s top flight…2016 Tippeligaen / 2nd level: 2016 1. divisjon.
-Finland’s top flight…2016 Veikkausliiga.
Largest metropolitan areas in the Nordic countries.
List of [3 largest] metropolitan areas in Sweden [Stockholm, Malmo, Gothenburg].
Regions of Norway.
Lands of Sweden.
Provinces of Finland.
Subdivisions of the Nordic countries.

Thanks to distancefromto.net.

Thanks to the supporter groups sites (plus one official-club-site) where I found cool tifo/supporter-made-atmosphere photos within the stadiums..
AIK Fotboll supporter-site: jojjesplejs.com.
Malmö FF supporter-site: mff-familjen.se.
Djurgården supporter-site: jarnkaminerna.se.
IFK Göteborg official site: ifkgoteborg.se/In-English/Welcome.
SK Brann supporters’ group Bergens Blade Gutter’s Twitter.com page at tw.google4cn.com/BGG_08/media.

Thanks to Anders Skoog via his brother LG, at LG Skoog’s blog at Runnersworld.se – for the nice photo of Hammarby Ultras/Hammarby IF supporters at the Tele2 Arena (aka Nya Soderstorm), here.

And a big Thank You to all who contributed at the far-ranging z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi messageboard/forum site, at z6.invisionfree.com/UltrasTifosi/[Scandinavia], for the awesome photos.

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