Attendances in the Football League reached a 50-year high last season of more than 17 million fans through the turnstiles.
The Coca-Cola Championship kept its place as the league with the fourth-highest attendance in Europe with a total of more than 9.9m fans, up by 0.3% to an average of 17,949 supporters per match.
Only Germany's Bundesliga (13.1m), the Premier League (12.9m) and Spain's La Liga (11.0m) have higher attendances, and the Championship still outstrips Italy's Serie A (9.1m) and France's Ligue 1 (7.6m).
Football League chairman Greg Clarke said: "Attracting more than 17 million fans into their grounds is an outstanding achievement by Football League clubs, particularly in the current economic climate.
"Our clubs are focused on attracting a new, family audience to football and those efforts are clearly working."
A total of 17.1m supporters attended the 1,656 league matches played during 2009/10, up 4.4% on last season and the highest aggregate crowd figure since 1959/60.
Football League gates have more than doubled during the last 25 years to an average of more than 10,000 in the three divisions outside the Premier League.
Source: PA
