World Cup debacle in front of fewer witnesses: DFB men are also at a disadvantage on TV against DFB women

The German national soccer team is experiencing the next World Cup debacle - and far fewer people are interested in it than when they were eliminated from the first preliminary round four years ago.

World Cup debacle in front of fewer witnesses: DFB men are also at a disadvantage on TV against DFB women

The German national soccer team is experiencing the next World Cup debacle - and far fewer people are interested in it than when they were eliminated from the first preliminary round four years ago. Even in the third preliminary round game, the TV numbers remain comparatively low. The DFB women keep the attendance record.

The game of the national team against Costa Rica at the soccer World Cup in Qatar achieved the highest number of TV viewers of this tournament so far in Germany. However, the DFB men could not reach the top value of the German women at the European Championships in the summer.

According to ARD, an average of 17.43 million people watched the live broadcast of the end of the World Cup on Thursday evening despite the 4-2 victory. According to the broadcaster, this results in a market share of 53.7 percent. Viewers on the ARD and Telekom websites, which do not publish any figures, are not included.

The men could not break the previous ratings record of the year. The 17.897 million people who saw the 1:2 defeat of the DFB selection in the women's European Championship against England on ARD remain top values.

Thursday's Costa Rica game drew even more people than the 1-1 draw with Spain last Sunday, when 17.053 million were tallyed and the market share stood at 49.3 percent. These values ​​are well below the figures for the previous World Cup. ARD and ZDF had reached an average of more than 25 million people at the tournament in Russia four years ago in the three group games of the German team.

Apparently, many people are implementing their resolutions of not wanting to follow the controversial Winter World Cup in Qatar or only wanting to do so to a limited extent: According to a survey commissioned by RTL and ntv shortly before the start of the World Cup, more than half (54 percent) of all respondents did not intend to , to follow games in the live broadcast.

The proportion of those who want to watch games at all - whether with or without German participation - is therefore significantly lower than four years ago at the 2018 World Cup in Russia: At that time, three quarters (76%) of all respondents wanted at least part of the watch games. Even among those who are generally interested in football, more than one in four (28 percent) do not want to follow World Cup games.