Fireworks explode overhead as people gather on the Champs-Elysees after the final football match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup between Argentina and France in central Paris on December 18, 2022. (Photo by Charly Triballeau / AFP)
Paris: A total of 24.08 million people watched the France-Argentina FIFA World Cup final on Sunday on TF1 television, an all-time record audience for a French network, the channel said.
France lost on penalties on Sunday after the score ended 3-3 following extra time, but French commentators still heaped praise on the defeated side, while highlighting the crucial role of Argentinian captain Lionel Messi.
The record is established "all programs and channels combined" , indicated TF1 on its website, citing figures from Médiamétrie. This means that there had never been so many people to watch an event on the same channel in the history of French TV. It further added that the previous record dates back to the semi-final between Portugal and France at the 2006 World Cup, with 22.2 million viewers.
"Invited to the coronation of Lionel Messi, Les Bleus were heroic," said L'Equipe sports newspaper.
The match was dominated by Argentina for the first 80 minutes before a quickfire double by Kylian Mbappe ignited France. Mbappe went on to score a third goal and become only the second player in history to grab a hat-trick in a World Cup final
"Proud of our Bleus," read a headline on the front page of Le Parisien newspaper with a picture of the team standing together during the penalty shootout.
"Football is often more than a sport. In the run up to Christmas, this World Cup has been a magnificent present," the right-wing newspaper Le Figaro said in an editorial.
The interior ministry said that 227 people were arrested in France after the game, with 47 in Paris.
