‘Football Takes Over’ was one of the slogans of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017, and the tournament certainly captured the imagination of the nation’s fans.

A total of 1,347,133 spectators flocked to the stadiums, with an average of 25,906 spectators per match, making this the best attended FIFA U-17 World Cup in the tournament’s 33-year history.

The buzz and excitement surrounding India 2017 was not limited to the six stadiums, however.

According to Sony India, the host nation’s FIFA U-17 World Cup opener with USA attracted an audience of 1.8m viewers, while the highest single programme audience for live coverage was 1.1m on SONY Ten 2 when India faced Colombia.

“The fact that it became as big as it did surprised even us,” said** Joy Bhattacharjya, Project Director for the Local Organising Committee (LOC), speaking before the final matchday of India 2017. **“If you look at the newspapers, cricket was third news on the sports pages after the semi-finals. The Brazil-England match led it, then after that, it was the Spain-Mali encounter. You cannot believe what a change that is in India. Also, to see 50,000 people in New Delhi and actually cheering for a team after they’ve lost, that kind of sporting spirit has not been seen in India before.”

Sony India aired 879 hours of dedicated coverage across three channels: Sony ESPN, Sony Ten 2 and Sony Ten 3. This consisted of 241 hours of live coverage, 334 hours of repeat coverage and 304 hours of highlights.

A staggering 71,601,000 viewers watched at least one minute of India 2017 coverage, while the three matches that featured the Indian national team averaged a live match audience of 1,661,000 viewers.