Kitted out in an “Everyone is Watching the Lionesses” T-shirt before boarding a flight to Basel, the WSL Football chief executive, Nikki Doucet, describes England’s extraordinary progress to a third successive major final as another “ignition moment” for the sport, but the international game has long since been on fire.
While not everyone has been watching in an increasingly fractured television landscape, ITV’s peak audience of 10.2 million for England’s dramatic semi-final win over Italy on Tuesday was its biggest of the year, and with live coverage of Sunday’s final against Spain shared with the BBC, more broadcast records could tumble.
