England vs France, the most-watched sporting event of the year

England’s agonising World Cup quarter-final exit was the most-watched sporting event of the year with a peak audience of 23 million on ITV.

An average audience of 20.4m watched throughout as a missed Harry Kane penalty allowed France to clinch a blockbuster 2-1 victory.

Overall numbers could yet climb, although it appears the Queen’s funeral in Westminster Abbey remains the best watched. Viewing figures for the service were at 29.2 million, according to official audience data.

Those numbers were also fewer than the 31 million who watched the climax of England’s Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy.

However, ITV will claim the numbers on Saturday as a major success. Viewer numbers for the funeral were on several channels so England-France was the best numbers of the year for an individual broadcaster.

BBC One’s coverage of commemoration events peaked at 19.5 million viewers, BBC Two hit 2 million for its sign language coverage, ITV hit 5.3 million viewers, and Sky News attracted a maximum of 934,000 people.

ITV said the game drew the highest average TV audience of the tournament. England’s round of 16 match against Senegal was the next best, watched by an average of 18.4 million, with 13.4 million watching the whole coverage. An average of 20.4 million people watched the match on all viewing devices, with 15.8 million watching the whole coverage.

In comparison, England’s group match against the United States was watched on ITV by an average of 15.1 million people, with 11.9 million watching the whole coverage.

England players were on Sunday afternoon making their way back home to the UK. Gareth Southgate has said he wants time to reflect on the tournament before deciding if he will continue on, with his contract running to after Euro 2024.

His players, however, have come out in support of the 52-year-old, with Harry Maguire the latest to praise Southgate.

“Listen, Gareth has been amazing with myself, amazing with every player in the team,” he said.

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