Gary Lineker has hailed the viewing figures for Sunday evening’s Women's Euros 2022 final as “wonderful”.
England's Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 to win the European Championship for the first time thanks to substitute Chloe Kelly's extra-time winner.
A record crowd for the final of 87,192 were at Wembley to witness it and the upsurge in interest in the women's game was further reflected in those watching the game at home or on the go.
A peak audience of 17.4m watched the final on the BBC with a further 5.9 million streaming it online.
Those figures compare favourably to the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy when ratings peaked during extra-time at 31.1 million.
Lineker, whose Match of the Day sparring partner Ian Wright was a key part of the BBC's Euros coverage, was prolific on Twitter both during and after the game.
Quoting the viewing figures, which made it the most watched programme of 2022, Lineker simply said "wonderful".
Germany TV also boasted impressive figures, with 17.9 million viewers recorded. That beat the 17 million who saw Germany's women bow out in the last eight of the 2011 World Cup, held on home soil, and was considerably more than the 9 million who saw the Germans crowned European champions in 2013.
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