Why London is becoming the city for Euro-sceptics

Average attendance figures are stagnant across the whole of the competition with no sign of the kind of boom that would trigger serious calls for a European league.

Last month witnessed the astonishing sight of 4,000 more fans turning up for Reading's Championship game with Leeds United (22,230) at the Madejski Stadium than showed up in Turin on the same night to watch Juventus play Bayern Munich - two so-called European giants who have won the European Cup six times between them.

Bayern will pack in a much bigger crowd when they play hosts to the Italian club in Munich tomorrow night. But Juventus also have the ignominy of recording the lowest crowds in Champions League history when just 6,494 watched their game with Maccabi Tel Aviv. More people watched Barnsley's League One victory at Bournemouth on Saturday.

Our probe of the first 48 matches of this year's Champions League group stage shows that attendances have not progressed from the same stage last season, with crowds averaging around 36,000.

England's average attendances are higher at a little more than 41,000. But they are boosted significantly by a capacity crowd at Old Trafford when 67,000 watched Wayne Rooney's brilliant Manchester United debut against Fenerbahce at the end of September.

English attendances for Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United, however, are behind countries such as Spain, Ukraine, France and Turkey. In fact, if it were not for the fanaticism of Spanish supporters and the appetite of Ukrainian fans to brave cold nights in Kiev, UEFA would be getting very worried.

Dynamo Kiev boasted easily the biggest attendance so far, with 83,000 for their game against German side Bayer Leverkusen. AC Milan and Barcelona have also boasted crowds of 75,000 or more this season with Man Utd and Real Madrid close behind with gates of 60,000 plus.

But it is a safe bet that ticket prices are much lower in the Ukraine than in England or in Germany, which is way down the list with average gates of 34,500.

Juventus, who won the trophy just six seasons ago, clearly have serious problems. Following the miserable crowd against Maccabi in early October, coach Fabio Capello said he was "saddened" by the sight of just over 18,000 in the 67,000-capacity Delle Alpi Stadium for the Bayern game a fortnight later.

He said: "We are talking about two great teams and two historic clubs and they deserve to play in front of a big crowd."

The Italian side can't explain why the public are staying away, but does it matter when the money is still rolling in from the TV deals?

Not for now. But the TV executives, who hate to see empty seats on their pictures, will start haggling on rights deals if the Juventus trend spreads.

UEFA officials said today that the static attendances are not worrying them yet. ITV are also happy because their average viewing figures for the live matches on ITV1 have increased by 500,000 from last year - now attracting nearly five million.

But there have been signs in recent weeks that attendances are dropping generally at more than half of the Premiership's 20 clubs, with fans refusing to pay prices that have outstripped inflation.

Judging by the Champions League, football fans are also not rushing madly towards the idea of a European League.

The fact is, for Chelsea fans, West Ham or Tottenham still look more tasty opponents than the talented men of Porto, who secured Jose Mourinho his Champions League triumph last season.