England v Iran FIFA WC match sets new BBC live streaming record

England’s World Cup 2022 opener against Iran on Monday 21 November was streamed a record 8 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online, making it the largest live streamed event on the BBC over a 24 hour period.

The memorable 6-2 victory for the Three Lions also pulled in a peak TV audience of 8.1 million and over 70% of the share of available viewers.

Sunday’s opening game, Qatar v Ecuador, had a peak audience of 7.9m on BBC One. By comparison, in 2018, the Peru & Denmark match which started at a similar time had a peak of 6.6m on the BBC.

Later today, BBC One and BBC iPlayer will air live coverage of Mexico v Poland (4pm) and France v Australia (7pm). Coverage of all games continues on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and BBC Sport online.