Exeter City has achieved a perfect score

Exeter City Football Club has topped the fan engagement index for the sixth year running.

Exeter City has beaten 91 clubs across all the football leagues, achieving a perfect score of 80 in the Fan Engagement Index 23/24.

The index provides the only objective measure of fan engagement in English men’s football.

It benchmarks clubs against each other and recognises and rewards those who practise good fan engagement.

The top 10 clubs were:

1. Exeter City
2. Carlisle United
3. Lincoln City
4. AFC Wimbledon
5. Norwich City
6. Cambridge United 
7. Doncaster Rovers
8. Swansea City
9. Bradford City
10. Portsmouth

Clive Harrison, chair of Exeter City Football Club’s supporter experience committee, said: “We’re delighted to have won this award for the sixth consecutive year. As a supporter-owned club our fans are at the heart of everything we do and we continuously strive to improve both our engagement and the supporter experience at Exeter City.”

Founder of Think Fan Engagement, Kevin Rye, said: “Fan engagement is about the relationship between a club and its fans, its most important stakeholder, and fan engagement is all about how clubs listen and communicate with them. Most importantly, it’s about how they are involved in the day-to-day life of the club and the decisions that get made.

“The first thing to think about is the relationship and how it works, not what you’re selling fans or trying to monetise. Only when you’ve learned to do the basics – to listen and engage meaningfully – will you be able to do the rest well.”

You can find out more about how Exeter City engages its fans here.