LONDON — The lure of British football is highlighted in a study which found that 800,000 international visitors to the country last year attended a match, spending more than $1 billion during their time there.

Figures released by VisitBritain show that around 40 per cent of the tourists going to a match said watching sport was the main reason for visiting *******.

Old Trafford and Emirates Stadium, the homes of ********** United and Arsenal, were the most popular destinations among tourists for watching football with 109,000 visits. One in 10 overseas visitors to the northwest of England — where clubs such as United, ********** City and Liverpool are located — attended a match.

Ireland (121,000), Norway (93,000) and Sweden (58,000) were the countries that provided most football-attending visitors.