Extreme examples of lower-league teams in huge stadiums and vice versa

“I have a new lower-league team (in the NPSL – one version of the fourth division in the US and considered the highest tier of amateur football) in my area that will open play in two weeks,” begins Harriet Osborn. “They will borrow a local school’s stadium which has a capacity of 8,500. As a few students of that school like to point out, that’s a larger capacity than some stadiums used by professional teams in Europe, such as Salford City (5,108). What is the most extreme example of this: how many leagues of difference can we find between a big stadium in a lower division and a smaller stadium in a higher one?”

Perhaps the most obvious answer to this is perennial stadium-stat conquerors Queen’s Park. The 52,000-capacity Hampden Park was home to the Scottish League One side for over a century but as of 2021 they are homeless, their lease on the ground having ended, and are awaiting development of a new home. Nevertheless in 2012-13 Queen’s Park were in the fourth tier of Scottish football while Ross County’s 6,541-capacity Victoria Park was hosting top-tier action.

In England, Darlington played at the 25,000-seat Reynolds Arena while in the National League in 2010-11. That same season, the 16,220-capacity Bloomfield Road hosted Blackpool in the Premier League. And the 11,000-capacity Dean Court hosted Premier League football in 2019-20 – that same season Notts County played fifth-tier National League football at their Meadow Lane ground that holds 18,816.

Beyond the big boys of the National League, there have been some pretty large borrowed stadiums playing host to games way down the pyramid.

Gateshead play at the 11,800-capacity Gateshead International Stadium – a home for athletics in the north east – and in 2003-04