Host Gary Lineker has confirmed that the BBC’s coverage of England’s significant victory in the competition’s last 16-year-old against Germany on Tuesday night attracted over 27 million viewers across the broadcaster’s platforms.
The two old rivals met against each other at Wembley, with the three lions wanting to put the demons to rest, with Die Mannschaft having tasting success against them in three consecutive knockout matches at major tournaments since the 1966 World Cup final.
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The first came in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, when the Germans beat England 5-4 on penalties to reach the final. The second took place at Euro ’96 when Gareth Southgate missed the decisive place kick, which allowed Germany to advance to the final with a 6-5 penalty win. And most recently, Joachim Low’s side knocked out the Three Lions from the 2010 World Cup in the round of 16 with a 4-1 victory.
The tie was therefore huge for several reasons and actually drew a record-breaking audience. Via his Twitter account, Lineker confirmed that 6.5 million people tuned in via BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website (5.6 million of them were on iPlayer – a new viewing record).
The day’s host of the match also revealed that these figures, which are added on top of the BBC’s TV audience, meant that there were more than 27 million viewers tuned in.
More viewing data has just been received and the BBC can confirm that a massive 6.5 million live streams were received via BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online. A new BBC iPlayer live viewer record has also been set after the match received 5.6m streams. Everything amounts to 27 million +?
– Gary Lineker? (@GaryLineker) June 30, 2021
Thankfully, these viewers were not disappointed – the English anyway. Southgate’s men ended their 55-year wait for a knockout victory over Die Mannschaft with a 2-0 victory.
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring with 15 minutes left on the clock before Harry Kane scored his first Euro 2020 goal by getting into Jack Grealish’s cross in the 86th minute.
Harry Kane scores second goal in England’s 2-0 win over Germany / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA / Getty Images
The historic victory places England in the last eight of this summer’s European Championships, where they will face Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine in Rome.
