Programme transmission: June 12th –July 13th
As the last of the golden ticker tape fell to the ground in the Maracanã with the German team reigning victorious, the FIFA 2014 World Cup came to a close. And what a World Cup it was with records tumbling everywhere.
The 2014 World Cup saw a joint high number of goals scored – 171 (the BBC has consolidated them into this 3:00 minute speed through!)
- There were fewer red cards than any World Cup since 1986 – eight
- Miroslav Klose became the top scoring player in World Cup history – 16 (check out his predatory skills here)
- Clint Dempsey’s goal inside 30 seconds is the fifth fastest goal in World Cup history!?
- Germany reached the World Cup Final for the eighth time, more often than any other side in the history of the competition
- One point was England’s lowest ever points total in a World Cup group stage
- Luke Shaw was the youngest player to feature in this World Cup finals
As expected the closing stages of the World Cup drew in sizeable audiences, even with the lack of the England presence in any of the knock out stages. The German Blitzkrieg of the Brazilian goal in the semi-final on BBC1 provided the highest viewing figures with 14.5 million adults tuning in to see the decimation of a footballing myth, their crying fans and a coach handing in his P45. The match also saw the largest amount of Twitter activity for a sporting event ever, with tweets per minute of 580,166 after Khedira made it 5-0.
The final between Germany and Argentina was simulcast between BBC One and ITV1, and a combined audience of over 17 million watched Mario Gotze score a wonder goal to cement his place in the history books. As expected, the BBC coverage far outperformed ITV, attracting around 11 million extra viewers. This could be due to numerous factors, but one of the main ones is surely the public dislike for Adrian Chiles and the fear of seeming him in shorts again.
So, now we will have to wait another four years for the next World Cup to see what that it will bring, whether England will get through the groups, whether Russia will be able to match Brazil for the excitement and drama, whether it will even be in Russia. In the meantime you can just have a look at the logo.