Disclosure Log

City Ground Safety Certificate (FOI/8811)

Message from Nottinghamshire County Council - 28 October 2026

Dear Requester,
Request FOI/8811
Further to your request received on 11th October 2026, I confirm that the Council has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Questions & Answers)
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request the following information for every football match played at the City Ground, West Bridgford, from 1 August 2009 to 30 June 2026. I understand the County Council issues the safety certificate for the City Ground; if another authority holds it, please tell me which and transfer or forward this request if you are able to.

Question 1
For each match, the date, the competition (Premier League, Championship, League One, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA competition, other) and the opponent.

Response
The Council does not hold a comprehensive record of every football match played at the City Ground between 1 August 2009 and 30 June 2026 for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Information relating to fixtures, opponents and competitions is publicly available from a variety of sources, including records maintained by Nottingham Forest Football Club and competition organisers. Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to information which is already reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means.

Question 2
For each match, the actual attendance as recorded by turnstile or electronic entry counts, as reported to the Council under the ground"s safety certificate or for match-day planning.

Response
The Council does not hold attendance information for every match played at the City Ground. Attendance information is only retained where Council officers have undertaken a match-day inspection. In accordance with the Council"s retention schedule for Safety at Sports Grounds records, the majority of records are retained for 10 years.

Consequently, information prior to 2016 is no longer held.

The information held is provided below:
DateOpponentCompetitionDeclared / Actual Attendance
30 April 2016Wolverhampton WanderersChampionship22,291 (actual 19,149)
30 July 2016Hull CityPre-season Friendly3,718
6 August 2016Burton AlbionChampionship23,012 (actual 21,165)
27 August 2016Leeds UnitedChampionship20,995 (actual 18,752)
20 September 2016ArsenalEFL League Cup28,567 (actual 27,466)
2 December 2016Newcastle UnitedChampionship21,317 (actual 19,108)
18 February 2017Sheffield WednesdayChampionship20,164 (actual 17,833)
18 March 2017Derby CountyChampionship26,665 (actual 25,191)
7 May 2017Ipswich TownChampionship28,249 (actual 25,182)
26 August 2017Leeds UnitedChampionship25,682 (actual attendance not recorded)
26 November 2017Cardiff CityChampionship25,210 (actual 20,684)
13 January 2018Aston VillaChampionship25,433 (actual 21,682)
11 March 2018Derby CountyChampionship29,106 (actual 26,872)
7 August 2018West Bromwich AlbionChampionship27,850 (actual 25,595)
3 November 2018Sheffield UnitedChampionship28,757 (actual 24,644)
19 January 2019Bristol CityChampionship28,922 (actual 25,691)
25 February 2019Derby CountyChampionship29,421 (actual 26,825)
5 May 2019Bolton WanderersChampionship27,578 (actual attendance not recorded)
21 September 2019BarnsleyChampionship29,202 (actual 25,417)
18 August 2021Blackburn RoversChampionship23,964 (actual 18,542)
9 January 2022ArsenalFA Cup Third Round24,938 (actual 23,207)
17 May 2022Sheffield UnitedChampionship Play-Off Semi-Final (2nd Leg)29,015 (actual 27,022)
14 August 2022West Ham UnitedPremier League29,282 (actual 26,889)
14 January 2023Leicester CityPremier League29,301 (actual 27,806)
20 May 2023ArsenalPremier League29,514 (actual 28,193)
18 August 2023Sheffield UnitedPremier League29,432 (actual 26,499)
17 February 2024West Ham UnitedPremier League29,432 (actual 27,333)
21 October 2024Crystal PalacePremier League29,433 (actual 27,042)
26 February 2025ArsenalPremier League30,200 (actual 28,663)

Question 3
Where the Council also holds the attendance figure declared by the club for the same match, that figure alongside it.

Response
Where held, the declared attendance and actual attendance figures have been provided together in response to Question 2 above.

Question 4
The safety certificate capacity of the stadium in force on each match date.

Response
Year / DateCapacity
200930,576
201030,576
201130,540
201230,540
201330,445
201430,445
201530,445
201630,445
201730,332
201830,332
201930,332
202030,332
202130,332
202230,332
202330,404
202430,684
22 October 2024*30,790
6 March 2025*30,814
202530,847
23 October 2025*31,042
202631,212

*General Safety Certificates, including capacity figures, are normally reviewed at annual inspections undertaken during the close season. These dates reflect in-season alterations to the stadium resulting in revised capacity figures.

Additional Information
The Council issues and administers the General Safety Certificate for the City Ground under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975.

The Council does not hold attendance data for every match played at the stadium and, due to the applicable retention period, attendance information prior to 2016 is no longer held.

We hope you find this information useful.

Unless otherwise stated, any information supplied in response to this request is subject to copyright owned by Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC). The provision of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Environmental Information Regulations 2004 does not automatically grant permission to re-use that information.

If you wish to reproduce, publish, distribute, adapt, or otherwise re-use any of the information provided, you should seek permission from Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) before doing so. Requests for permission to re-use information should be submitted to the Council in writing for consideration. Where information is owned by a third party, you may also need to obtain permission from the relevant copyright holder before any re-use takes place.

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its online Disclosure Log. Only requests deemed to be in the public interest will be included and any request included within this log will be de-personalised accordingly.

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website.

Your privacy: we use your personal information such as name and address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests.  For further details about the use of information about you, please see the information handling privacy notice on our website at:
https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/4323566/informationgovernanceandinformationrightsprivacynotice.pdf
 
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review.   Requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to: Complaints and Information Team, Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 7QP or [email protected].
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
 
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, 4th Floor, No.3 Circle Square, 5 Hawkshaw Street, Manchester, M1 7BL or https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-and-eir-complaints/.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information
Complaints and Information Team
Strategic & Enabling Services                                        
Nottinghamshire County Council
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