England’s Euro 2024 campaign continues tonight with a huge semi-final clash against the Netherlands, with the winner advancing to the final where they’ll play Spain.
As per usual, the BBC and ITV are showing every game from the tournament live, with the former broadcasting the Three Lions’ opening two games against Serbia and Denmark, with the latter hosting the drab 0-0 draw with Slovenia as well as the dramatic comeback win over Slovakia in the Round of 16.
The quarter-final win on penalties against Switzerland was shown on the BBC, but ITV will broadcast the semi-final against the Dutch, which may worry fans given the perception that the national team perform way better when on the Beeb as opposed to their advert-heavy rivals.
But is ITV’s coverage actually cursed? Metro has crunched the numbers and worked out that the omens are not looking good for Gareth Southgate’s side tonight…
ITV’s England record
Since the 1998 World Cup, 32 England matches at major tournaments have been broadcast live on ITV and shockingly, only nine on them have ended in victory for the Three Lions.
This gives the broadcaster a win percentage of just 28%, with the remaining results being 11 draws and 12 losses.
Many of the country’s lowest moments were shown on ITV, including the heartbreaking defeats to France and Croatia at the last two World Cups and the humiliating Euro 2016 exit to Iceland.
Going back further, they brought us the World Cup penalty shootout losses to Portugal and Argentina, both of which occurred after England’s star player was sent off – Wayne Rooney in 2006 and David Beckham in 1998.
BBC’s England record
Over the same time period, the Beeb’s form when it comes to England games is far, far better with 21 wins out of 30.
That’s a win-percentage of 70% for Gary Lineker and co. who have overseen just two draws and seven losses.
It’s not all good news though, with the BBC still showing some terrible results over the years including the embarrassing 4-1 defeat to Germany at World Cup 2010.
Both broadcasters showed the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy on penalties.
What TV channel will England’s potential final be shown on?
As ever, both the BBC and ITV will show the final in Berlin on Sunday, 14 July, where either England or the Netherlands will face Spain after they beat France 2-1 in their semi-final.
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