ITV Wins Big With Football, As Scottish Fans Tune In For Record-Breaking Euros Defeat

The European Football Cup tournament has got off to a cracking start – for broadcasters at least – with Friday evening’s opening match between host nation Germany and Scotland watched by an average of 5.8million viewers, with a peak of 9.8million.

The UK’s two main broadcasters ITV and BBC are sharing the spoils of the month-long competition, with Friday’s opening match being shown by ITV.

This primetime audience was a big jump on that for the opening match for the last Euros. When the BBC aired Turkey vs Italy in 2021 (Euro 2020 delayed by a year due to Covid), its average audience was 5.2m with a 6.9m peak.

While the ardent Scottish football fanbase will have significantly boosted Friday evening’s viewing figures, ITV’s smiles won’t reach Scotland today, still recovering from being on the wrong side of the biggest-ever win for the host in the European Championships and also the biggest margin for victory (make that defeat if you’re Scotland) for any side in the opening match of the tournament.

Scottish supporters – including the most passionate of fans ‘the Tartan Army’ who travel across the world to support their team, dressed in kilts and often playing bagpipes – have travelled in their tens of thousands to the tournament, with millions more tuning in at home, and many were not happy with ITV’s coverage of the match.

The Daily Mirror newspaper, like several others, reports on the most indignant of armchair fans, who felt the broadcaster’s pre-match coverage focused insufficiently on Scotland, particularly by including an interview with England manager Gareth Southgate (the football rivalry between the two countries is centuries-old and unyielding) – despite the English side not set to play until Sunday.

Tony Watt, formerly of Scottish side Celtic as well as the national side wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Turned ITV on and its coverage of England. Is it not Scotland, Germany?”

Fellow former Scottish player Lee Mair wrote: “Get a grip STVSport and @ITV. Shambles. Scotland playing the hosts in the opening game of the Euros and the whole build up is about England.”

Perhaps inevitably for such a terrible result, these weren’t the only harsh words traded on the night. Scotland manager Steve Clarke was filmed having a furious exchange with an assistant coach on the sidelines and, following the match, former player turned pundit Roy Keane – never known for his hesitancy to express his opinion – was asked what he thought of Scotland’s efforts. The Sun newspaper reports his response:

“They spoke before the game about creating history. They’re creating history alright by playing as bad as that, letting their manager and supporters down.”

The tournament will run for another long four weeks.