The defeat of ‘Die Mannschaft’ against Spain in the Eurocup leads Germany’s television audience in 2024

The match between the German and Spanish soccer teams in the quarterfinals of the last men’s Euro Cup, which ended with a 2-1 victory for the ‘Red’ against ‘Die Mannschaft’, was the television broadcast with the highest audience during this year 2024 in Germany.

According to the public entity ARD, some 27.1 million people watched that duel on July 5 at the Stuttgart Arena, 80.9% of the market share. The German national team, hosts of the EURO, was eliminated that day after a goal by Mikel Merino in extra time.

In 2022 and 2023, the German women’s team dominated the list of live broadcasts with the highest audience, while the men’s team did not even enter the ‘top 50’ after their early eliminations during the 2018 Russia and Qatar 2022 World Cups.

“The European championship at home was very attractive, the tournament had a lot of fun for people,” said ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky. More than 20 matches without German participation reached the 10 million viewer mark. The final between Spain and England was watched by 22.4 million people. “It was impressive proof of the power of soccer in tournaments,” Balkausky said.

As in 2023, the most successful sport after football was handball. Five matches of the men’s European Championship in which the German team participated were among the 50 most successful sports broadcasts of the year, including the semi-final defeat against Denmark, with 9.8 million viewers, which came in 29th place.

The Paris Olympic Games were also an important audience driver. The opening ceremony on the public broadcaster ZDF was the most watched: 10.4 million people followed the event, which lasted about four hours and ranked 26th in ratings.