Soccer

England’s loss to USA pulled in over 300,000 viewers on Irish TV

In the UK the 2-1 defeat for Phil Neville’s side was the most watched programme this year

Alex Morgan of the USA is challenged by Lucy Bronze, Jade Moore and Nikita Parris of England during the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup semi-final in Lyon. Photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images

Ruaidhrí Croke's face
Ruaidhrí Croke
Wed Jul 3 2019 - 12:00

An average audience of 220,000 watched England’s Women’s World Cup semi-final defeat to the USA on RTÉ last night while, in the UK, the BBC pulled in the biggest viewing audience of the year.

RTÉ’s coverage peaked at 316,700 while 20 per cent of people in the country watching television at the time were watching the match.

Phil Neville’s side were knocked out of the tournament in France in what was a dramatic encounter which saw Steph Houghton miss a late penalty for England with the game at 2-1.

In the UK, a peak audience of 11.7million tuned in to watch the match, which was screened live on BBC One

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Those figures also revealed that the peak share of the TV audience during the match was 50.8 per cent.

Last year the most viewed football match on RTÉ was England’s semi-final defeat to Croatia in the men’s World Cup which drew an average audience of 924,400.

RTÉ’s figures have been growing throughout the tournament but the England and USA match represented quite a significant increase on the previous high of 136,800 for the USA’s win over France in the quarter-finals last week.