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 One day after the end of the regular season in Europe’s top leagues, the IIHF has announced the annual attendance study. SC Bern set a new club attendance record with an average of 16,330 fans while the Swiss NLA set a new league attendance record with 6,620 spectators per game.

SC Bern tops the European attendance ranking for the 12th consecutive year. The club from the Swiss capital city has been on top since it dethroned Germany’s Kölner Haie in 2002.

The top-four is unchanged from 2012. Belarusian KHL team Dinamo Minsk remained in second place with an average of 14,299 fans at Minsk Arena – the newly built facility that will also serve as the venue for the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship – ahead of two German teams, Eisbären Berlin (14,034) and Kölner Haie (12,199).

Russia’s most-attended team, SKA St. Petersburg, moved from sixth to fifth place with 11,917 fans per game and also sixth-ranked Adler Mannheim from Germany (10,796) moved up one place.

Slovakia’s Slovan Bratislava improved from 36th to seventh position with 9,975 fans. Since joining the KHL last year, the club has had all but one game sold out. The club averaged 5,907 fans in the Slovak league last year.

The top-10 is completed by Jokerit Helsinki (9,828) – the home team at Hartwall Arena, one of the two venues for the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in 2012 and 2013 – the ZSC Lions Zurich (8,745) and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (8,712).

The teams with the highest attendance worldwide are currently the Chicago Blackhawks with 21,610 fans followed by the Montreal Canadiens (21,273) and the Detroit Red Wings (20,066).

Attendance figures in European hockey leagues 2012/2013 (TOP-5)

           Club                     Country    Average Cap.      %

1. (1.) SC Bern                 SUI           16,3309          95.32%
2. (2.) Dinamo Minsk          BLR              14,299               94.78%
3. (3.) Eisbären Berlin        GER          14,034            98.83%
4. (4.) Kölner Haie            GER           12,199           65.94%
5. (6.) SKA St. Petersburg  RUS          11,917            95.34%

Regular-Season average league attendance Europe & Asia

                 League                                Attendance

1.Switzerland - National League A            6,620
2. Germany -  Deutsche Eishockey Liga     6,172
3. Russia - Kontinental Hockey League      6,106
4. Sweden - Elitserien                             5,717
5. Finland - SM-liiga                               5,213
6. Czech Republic - Extraliga                   5,169
7. Austria - EBEL                                    3,547
8. Slovakia - Extraliga                            2,018
9. Great Britain - Elite Ice Hockey League 1,977
10. Norway - Get Ligaen                          1,627
...
16. Belarus - Extraliga                                    897

IIHF.com