England fans skip sleep for World Cup drama as thrilling win over Mexico smashes BBC viewing records | OneFootball

England's dramatic 3-2 World Cup victory over Mexico in the early hours of Monday morning shattered BBC viewing records, the corporation has confirmed.

Despite a 2am BST kick-off, the match drew a peak live audience of 9.1 million, with an average of 7.8 million tuning in. This figure more than tripled the previous record for a BBC event screened between 2am and 4am, which was set during the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Digital engagement also soared, with match highlights streamed a record 5.9 million times across iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app, and the BBC Football YouTube channel. Monday also marked the highest ever number of requests on iPlayer, totalling 48 million for World Cup and other content.

A rerun of the game on BBC2 at 7am on Monday morning attracted a peak audience of 1.1 million, averaging 900,000.

England beat Mexico 3-2 in a thrilling contest on Sunday night (PA)

The fixture also proved a massive hit on social media, with footage of Harry Kane's post-match interview – where his voice cracked after joining teammates and fans in singing Oasis's 'Wonderwall' – garnering 65 million views.

England are now through to the World Cup quarter-finals where they will face Erling Haaland’s Norway on Saturday, 11 July. The game is due to kick-off at 10pm BST, which means it could finish at around midnight if extra time is not required.

Should the game go to extra time and even penalties, the match is likely to end closer to 1am, leaving fans facing the prospect of another late night.

That did not deter them against Mexico though, and England are now just three matches from glory. A victory over Norway would secure a spot in the semi-finals for the second time in eight years after Gareth Southgate led the Three Lions into the last four in 2018.

A potential semi-final would begin at 8pm BST in Atlanta on 15 July, while the final is also scheduled to kick-off at 8pm BST, this time in New Jersey on 19 July.

England have only reached one final in their history back in 1966 when they beat West Germany 4-2 to lift the coveted trophy.