Another milestone for mighty Toulouse
Four times Heineken Cup champions Toulouse will reach another tournament milestone this weekend when they become the first team to notch 1 million fans at their home matches in Europe’s premier club tournament.
Guy Noves’ side were the inaugural winners of the competition and were also the first team to win the title three times. They were the first club to play 100 games and still lead the way with 121.
Sunday’s Pool Six clash with Harlequins at Le Stadium will be their 55th home game and, with more than 30,000 tickets already sold for the game, the turnstiles will tick through the 1,000,000 mark.
At the end of last season Toulouse had clocked up 959,831 paying customers and they opened their home account in this the 17th season of Heineken Cup rugby with an 18,500 crowd at Stade Ernest-Wallon for their win over Gloucester in Round One.
That took their overall total to 978,331 fans ahead of the return game against the leaders of the English Premiership and last season’s Amlin Challenge Cup champions.
Toulouse became the first team this season to beat Quins with last weekend’s 21-10 at the Twickenham Stoop and the European giants will break another record on Sunday.
“Toulouse have been setting the benchmark for clubs around Europe ever since they entered the Heineken Cup back in 1995. Where they have led, others have sought to follow,” said ERC chief executive, Derek McGrath.
“Becoming the first team to attract 1 million fans is another significant milestone for Toulouse and I congratulate their teams both on and off the field for their continued success.”
