England's Women's World Cup final defeat to Spain watched by 12m people on BBC

Twelve million people watched England lose out to Spain in the Women's World Cup final on BBC 1 on Sunday.

This made the final the second-most viewed event of 2023 after the Coronation of King Charles III in May.

The broadcaster also confirmed that it registered 25.7million stream requests across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport Online, as Spain ran out 1-0 winners.

The men's Wimbledon final between Carlos Alvarez and Novak Djokovic in July attracted a peak audience of 11.3million.

England fans were ultimately left disappointed after Olga Carmona's first-half goal earned Spain the victory in Sydney.

There were complaints from viewers that a Spanish commentator could be heard in the background of commentary provided by the BBC's Robyn Cowen and former Lioness Rachel Brown-Finnis.

However, the BBC figures were still considerably greater than the 2.46million average viewers watching the concurrent broadcast on ITV.

A combined 14.7million people tuned in for the final minutes of the game across both channels as England tried in vain to forced a dramatic equalising goal.

Even though Mary Earps saved a second-half penalty from Jenni Hermoso, it was Jorge Vilda's side that lifted the trophy despite well-documented issues between the head coach and his players.

England boss Sarina Wiegman thanked the fans for their support as the Lionesses fell just short of following up last year's European Championship success with a World Cup win.

Across the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, there were 25.7 million streams on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

This represents a 75% increase on the 14.7 million streams for the 2019 World Cup in France