This archive report was first published on 3 July 2019.
England's women's World Cup semi-final defeat to the United States was a major television event in the United Kingdom, drawing in a peak audience of 11.7 million viewers.
According to BBC viewing figures, the match in Lyon grabbed a peak share of the TV audience of over 50 percent.
This was the fourth time this tournament that the record UK TV audience for a women's match had been broken.
Former Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn attributed the growing popularity of women's football to its increasing mainstream appeal.
"It's moved from being an interesting Olympic-type sport to an absolute mainstream sport," Glenn told the BBC.
"The importance of that is that adds attraction, it pulls girls and women into playing," he added.
Glenn also emphasized the need for more exposure for women's football, including terrestrial TV broadcasts and high-profile matches in elite stadiums.
For comparison, England's men's team's defeat to Croatia in the World Cup semi-final last year attracted a peak audience of 26.5 million.
