This was something that would normally only happen with the German national team in the past: the final match of the FIFA World Cup saw record-breaking viewership on German television channel ZDF, with 17.36 million viewers. The Spain vs. Argentina match (1-0 in extra time) drew only slightly fewer viewers than Germany's Round of 16 exit, which was watched by 17.57 million.
The match achieved a market share of 65.1%. This percentage was even higher among younger viewers, specifically those aged 14 to 49, reaching 73%. It is currently unclear how many viewers MagentaTV, a competitor, watched the final.
This World Cup final also surpassed the viewership figures of 2022. The Argentina vs. France final that year (4-2 on penalties) had fewer than 14 million viewers; while the 2018 World Cup had over 21 million viewers.
The highest viewership record for this tournament still belongs to Germany's opening group stage match against Curaçao, which was watched by nearly 24 million people on Deutsche Welle. Following closely behind are Germany's third group stage match (18.47 million viewers/ARD) and their second group stage match (18.26 million viewers/ZDF).
