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Despite being the showcase for the world’s largest sporting event, the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain was not the most-watched match of the tournament by Indonesian TV audiences.

That honor went to the quarterfinal match between Argentina and Germany, according to a study conducted in 10 cities across the country by market research firm Nielsen Company.

That game, shown by private broadcaster RCTI, drew 5.8 million viewers, or 11.8 percent of the 49.5 million people who have access to television.

Nielsen spokeswoman Irawati Pratignyo told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday that the Brazil-Netherlands quarterfinal match came in a close second with an 11.4 percent audience share.

“Both games were aired in the prime-time slot between 8 p.m. and 11.30 p.m., so that may have been why they drew the highest number of viewers,” Irawati said.

Vennard Hutabarat, the president of the Indonesian Professional Footballers Association, said the popularity of matches featuring Argentina and Germany was because of the massive fan bases both teams enjoyed here.

“Both teams have individual stars who some people particularly like, for instance Lionel Messi from Argentina,” said Vennard, who is also the captain of the national futsal team.

The Netherlands-Spain final, broadcast on both RCTI and Global TV early on Monday morning, recorded a 6.4 percent audience share.

Vennard said the relatively low rating was because fan favorites such as England, Germany and Argentina had already exiting the tournament.

“Their favorite teams didn’t make it to the final, and they weren’t really interested in watching the Spain-Netherlands game,” he said.

“Besides, the live broadcast was early on Monday morning, a few hours before the start of the work week.”

Vennard added that most football fans had already written off the game as a yawner, given the lackluster performances put in by both teams on their long road to the final.

Silva, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia and a self-confessed avid football fan, said the final would have been more interesting if it had featured other teams.

“My favorite team was Germany,” she said. “The final would have been so much more interesting if they were in it.”