Football: Record viewing figures likely for England-Italy
(WARSAW) - The Euro 2012 match between England and Italy is in line to be the most-watched quarter-final game in the competition's history, organisers UEFA said on Wednesday.
European football's governing body said that according to figures submitted from the first 20 markets, 100 million viewers worldwide watched Sunday's match with more than 100 broadcasters still to report.
An average of 20.3 million people watched the game on the BBC in Britain, which was the highest quarter-final audience since Euro 2004 when 20.7 million people watched England lose to Portugal.
That match is the benchmark for the most watched quarter-final in the tournament's history as its total audience was 228.2 million.
UEFA said the figures for the England-Italy match surpassed the 13.6 million who tuned in to watch Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton last year and the 14.7 million for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert this month.
In Italy, 21.8 million people watched the match, which the Azzurri won 4-2 on penalties after the match finished 0-0 after extra-time.
UEFA said that a total of 1.3 million people had attended group stage and knock-out matches at the eight venues in Poland and Ukraine so far, while a further 4.9 million had watched the games in specially created fan zones.
England's 3-2 Group D win over Sweden was the best-attended match, with 64,640 people in Kiev's Olympic Stadium; the most-watched game in fan zones was England versus Ukraine, when 273,250 people turned out.
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