Argentina beat France in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Final to lift the trophy for the first time since 1986. The spectacle is barely 24 hours old but many of those who watched it consider it as among the best World Cup games ever.
The game had it all: great players, goals, comebacks, penalties, drama, twists and turns and in the end, the better team won – on penalties of course, as regular time could not separate these two great teams.
Sporting Spectacle
FIFA World Cup Finals have always been a spectacle. In 2018 for example, FIFA stated in their official data that a record 3.572 billion people tuned in to watch France beat Croatia in Moscow, Russia.
While viewership data from the 2022 Final has not been released, the figures have already been ground-breaking in group-stage games and knockout games.
But how did it come to be?
Streaming and internet accessibility
There is no denying the accessibility that streaming has brought to football fans. Since 2010, viewership in World Cup Finals have been steadily rising, and this coincides with the rise of the streaming mode of business we have now.
No longer do football fans now need to own expensive cable TV to watch their favorite sport. No longer do they have to travel long distances just to catch some action. The wonders of technology now mean that the average fan can simply pop out their phone and with proper internet access and a good streaming service, they can watch their favorite game anywhere.
So, a rise in internet access, streaming services and mobile phone accessibility has made FIFA World Cup final, an already big spectacle, an even bigger spectacle. There is no doubt then that the figures from the 2022 final could be even more record-breaking, seeing the amount of conversation the match has already generated.
