England’s thrilling last-gasp Euro 2024 semi-final victory over the Netherlands was watched by an audience of more than 21 million people.
A peak audience of 21.6 million tuned in on ITV on Wednesday night across both television and streaming, the highest numbers for a single-channel broadcast in the UK since the Three Lions lost to France in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Per the Press Association, the compelling game drew an average audience of 19.6 million, with 12.6 million - a 64 per cent share of the viewership - watching the semi-final coverage between 6:30pm BST and 10:45pm.
Those numbers will surely be quickly eclipsed on Sunday night, when England take on Spain in the final of the European Championship at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. The showpiece fixture is being broadcast live on both BBC One and ITV1.
After substitute Ollie Watkins’ memorable 90th-minute winner at Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, Gareth Southgate’s side have made history as the first-ever England men’s team to reach a major tournament final on foreign soil, following their Euro 2020, Euro 96 and 1966 World Cup runs at home.
They are just one game away now from potentially ending 58 years of hurt as they seek to banish memories of their agonising penalty shootout defeat by Italy at a chaotic Wembley in the final of the delayed Euro 2020 three years ago.
Xavi Simons had caught Declan Rice in possession and given the Netherlands the lead with an early thunderbolt on Wednesday evening, but that shock opener was quickly cancelled out by a highly-contentious penalty both won and scored by captain Harry Kane, who later made way for match-winner Watkins.
England’s eventful journey to the final came after strong criticism of their performances and of Southgate’s tactics throughout the tournament, which started with a nervy win over Serbia in Group C before dire draws with Denmark and Slovenia were followed by a dramatic extra-time win over Slovakia and penalty shootout masterclass to thwart Switzerland in the quarter-finals.
They now face a tough challenge against a Spain side that have been the consensus best team at the tournament so far, the only nation to win every game during the group stage - in the so-called ‘Group of Death’ against Croatia, Italy and Albania - before coming from behind to thrash plucky tournament debutants Georgia in the last 16.
They grabbed a last-gasp extra-time winner to eliminate hosts Germany in the quarter-finals last week before toppling pre-tournament favourites France with a swift turnaround in Munich on Tuesday night that included a wonder goal from 16-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal of Barcelona - now the youngest scorer in Euros history.
