who takes more fans to stadiums, Fluminense or Vasco?

After all, who takes more fans to stadiums, Fluminense or Vasco? The issue is at the heart of the current rivalry between the teams, opponents on Sunday, for the Carioca Championship. They dispute the management of Maracanã – and Vasco da Gama fans like to say that they deserve more to take over the administration because they have better audiences at the stadium. Not to mention the debate over who should be on the right side of the press box for a decade.

It’s no wonder that Vasco shouldn’t miss the opportunity to question Fluminense about the ticket load for the weekend’s classic. He considers asking the host of the match for an extra batch of tickets. 50,000 were put up for sale, around 70,000 can fit in Maracanã, and Colina’s team fans can no longer find available seats. The tricolors, on the other hand, have not yet sold out tickets in the South Sector, exclusive to the fans of the Laranjeiras team.

Last season, gave Fluminense

Several factors interfere with the number of fans that a team can place in stadiums. The moment of the team, the value of the average ticket, the capacity of the stadium where the team usually plays. Last season, with all that hanging in the balance, Fluminense was the one who brought the most fans to the games.

Last November, the CBF released a report with the numbers of audience and income of Série A, Série B and Copa do Brasil. In it, the tricolor appears in front. Its average number of payers was 28,262, against 22,337 for Vasco.

The fact that they play their matches at Maracanã, with a capacity three times greater than that of São Januário, the stadium where Vasco da Gama play, helped. In addition, the good season of the team coached by Fernando Diniz, including third place in the Brasileirão, took Fluminense fans to the stadium.

The Cruz-Maltino player makes the effort to manage the stage of the finals of the 1950 and 2014 World Cups precisely because he understands that Colina does not support the current demand of his fans. With a larger stadium at its disposal, it would be able to raise its average attendance. By having transferred to Maracanã two matches in Série B, against Cruzeiro and Sport, the team managed to have an average of payers higher than the capacity of São Januário.

In history, gives Vasco

When the comparison puts Fluminense and Vasco in the same stadium, Maracanã, the scenario changes. In 2020, on the occasion of Maracanã’s 70th anniversary, journalist Paulo Vinícius Coelho, then on the ge website, surveyed all the matches held at the stadium with a paying public of over 100,000 people.

The survey revealed that, throughout history, there were 175 matches in which the number of payers surpassed three digits in the thousands. The Cruz-Maltino was able to fill Maracanã more times than the Tricolor: 59 against 44. The leader is Flamengo. Of the big four in Rio, Botafogo played the least in games with more than 100,000 spectators at the stadium.

The calculation takes into account the local classics, matches in which the teams with the biggest crowds in Rio played against each other. When the requirement is that Fluminense and Vasco have played against smaller opponents from the city or from outside, Vasco’s advantage remains.