England World Cup semi-final qualifier sees Lionesses smash TV records

A peak audience of 7.6 million tuned in to watch England take on the Scandinavian side in Thursday night’s quarter-final, making up 38.6% of the audience share. The number is up on the 6.9 million who tuned in to watch them take on Cameroon last Sunday.

The total TV reach is now 22.2 million, eons past the 12.4 million record set in 2015 during the World Cup in Canada.

Jill Scott, Ellen White and Lucy Bronze scored for victory in the third, 40th and 57th minutes last night to uphold the teams’ as-of-yet unbeaten tally at this year’s tournament.

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Manager Phil Neville described Bronze as “the best player in the world, without a shadow of a doubt”.

He told the BBC: “There's no player like her in the world. I played full-back [for Manchester United, Everton and England] but never to that level.”

The Lionesses were cheered on by celebrity fans including ex-England footballer David Beckham and his daughter Harper, as well as thousands of festival-goers at Glastonbury where the match was screened on the West Holts stage.

England’s semi-final against France or USA will be live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer next Tuesday, with kick off at 8pm.