Crowds on the rise for the fourth consecutive season, with almost 4.5 million fans attending matches across all four divisions in 2018/19.

Attendances across all four Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) divisions increased for the fourth consecutive season in 2018/19, as almost 4.5 million supporters turned out to watch their teams.

An aggregate total of 4,486,145 fans attended 788 matches across the Ladbrokes Premiership, Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League 1 and Ladbrokes League 2, including play-off fixtures - a rise from 4,445,149 the previous year.

In the Betfred Cup, 379,553 supporters attended 95 matches, while 36,975 fans watched 56 Challenge Cup fixtures, taking the total figure to 4,902,673 across all SPFL competitions during season 2018/19 (54,839 more than last season).

Of all 42 SPFL clubs, 25 experienced a year-on-year increase in league match crowds last season, with more than half of the 12 Ladbrokes Premiership clubs recording a rise on average attendances for home games.

Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive, said: “After what has been another hugely entertaining season across all four Ladbrokes SPFL divisions, it’s extremely encouraging to see another increase in engagement in Scottish football reflected through a rise in attendances.

“Scottish football continues to punch above its weight in terms of fan attendance per capita, which is testament to the hard work done by the individual clubs to engage supporters in their local communities and the loyalty shown by Scottish football fans to turn out in such extraordinary numbers to support their teams.”