Will England fall foul of the ITV World Cup curse once again?
After England's 1-0 defeat to Belgium on Thursday ensured that Gareth Southgate's side finished second in Group G at the World Cup, TV viewers were left with a familiar losing feeling after watching the game on ITV.
During the World Cup, the broadcast of live England games are usually split between free-to-air channels BBC and ITV, resulting in an even distribution of games.
But records going back to the 1998 World Cup in France highlight a worrying pattern whereby England only seem to flop when they are shown on ITV.
In fact, from the 10 World Cup games shown on ITV over the last 20 years, England have emerged victorious only once - a 2-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago at the 2006 World Cup in Germany - and have just a win percentage of just 10 per cent when a World Cup game is broadcast on ITV.
That statistic could be a bad omen for England in their bid to win their first World Cup knockout match in 12 years, as the last-16 clash against Colombia is being shown on ITV on Tuesday evening.
On the contrary, the BBC have enjoyed a more successful run of England results. They have shown 13 World Cup games of which nine have been victories, with the only defeats coming against Italy, Germany, Brazil and Costa Rica.
In the current tournament, both of England's group stage victories against Panama and Tunisia, which they won 6-1 and 2-1 respectively, were shown on BBC.
