England’s extra time win over Germany in the Women’s Euro 2022 final achieved a peak TV audience of 17.4 million, making it the most-watched women’s football game on UK television of all-time and the most-watched programme of 2022 so far.
Another, 5.9 million saw Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly score goals for England on streams from BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.
We are incredibly proud to have championed women’s football and are thrilled we were able to bring such a special sporting moment to the public,” said BBC Director-General, Tim Davie. “This was the most-watched women’s football game on UK television of all-time and the most-watched programme in 2022 so far – and deservedly so. Everyone at the BBC is delighted at the win and being able to share that with the public.”
The average viewing audience of 11 million is still behind the 13.1 million who watched the Queen’s platinum jubilee concert. However, the football audience is likely to have been increased by fans watching in pubs that are not recorded by the BARB rating system.
The previous most-watched women’s football match was England’s 2019 World Cup semi-final defeat to the United States, which averaged 9 million views and 11.7 million at its peak.