The German club Fortuna Düsseldorf made headlines this year by trialling free entry at select home games this season, but they have since been topped by France’s Paris FC. Since the start of November, all the club’s league games – encompassing the men’s and the women’s teams – can be attended free of charge until the end of the campaign.
At the time the club president, Pierre Ferracci, described the initiative as an attempt to make football more “accessible”. Perhaps more pressingly, it’s also seen as an answer to an “operational issue” for the club – low attendances at the Stade Charléty home ground is “one of our weak spots”. The 20,000-capacity stadium, part of a multisports complex nestled in the south of the city by the main ring road, has been occupied by the club since 2007. The men’s team draw around 4,000 spectators a game.
