England’s 3-2 World Cup win over Mexico in the early hours of Monday morning was seen by a live audience that peaked at 9.1 million, according to figures released by the BBC.
Despite kick-off being delayed from 1am to 2am BST due to the weather, the match pulled in an average audience of 7.8 million across BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
The game at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City saw the men’s national football team beat the co-hosts to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
It also set a new record for the largest television audience for a live UK broadcast between 2am and 4am.
The previous record was set during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, when more than three million viewers watched Team GB stars Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford clinch medals overnight.
Monday broke records for the highest ever number of requests on iPlayer, with 48 million in total for the World Cup and other content, the BBC said.
The rerun of the match on BBC Two at 7am on Monday morning attracted an average audience of 900,000, peaking at 1.1 million.
Footage of Harry Kane’s post-match interview with Kelly Somers, where his voice constantly cracked after he had joined his team-mates in belting out Oasis hit Wonderwall in unison with England fans, clocked up 65 million views for BBC Sport on social media, the corporation added.
The clip prompted Oasis singer Liam Gallagher to tease Kane on X, saying: “It’s hard work that singing Harry Kane cmon England cmon Wonderwall.”
England’s next match is against Norway in the quarter-final on Saturday, for which ITV have the live television rights.
