Viewers of the ITV breakfast series were left taken aback after the programme, today fronted by Ben Shephard, 48, and Charlotte Hawkins, also 48, was pulled off-air an hour early.

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Good Morning Britain usually airs from 6am to 9am and is then followed by Lorraine.

Yet at around 7:55am today, the anchors told how they were “handing over coverage” to the women’s sport team for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Ben reassured GMB fans the show will be back at it’s normal broadcast time of 6am tomorrow.

Following an advert break, the football coverage kicked off with a clash between Portugal and Vietnam.

Fans took to X formerly known as Twitter to air their surprise, with one posting: “Well that was a cut off lol. Over to #BBCBreakfast it is.”

Another moaned: “F***gin fball now.”

A third mused: “Over to the boring bbc then.”

Another then joked: “Charlotte CAN’T WAIT to watch Portugal V’s Vietnam.”

Last week, GMB fans were left furious after the show was cancelled in the first in a series of ITV schedule shake-ups for the football.

The broadcaster then stated GMB would not return until today – albeit with a shorter episode.

Fans again took to social media to comment, with one raging: “Not having #GMB on this morning was horrible!”

A second put: “They cancelled #gmb for women’s football?” as a third continued: “Where Is @GMB This Morning ? Never Known It To Be Off Before For Football World Cup.”

One then mused: “Why have they cancelled #GMB to show the football instead of sticking the football on ITV2?”

Meanwhile today’s Lorraine show has been culled completely.

BBC and ITV are set to share TV coverage of all 64 World Cup games including England’s clashes with their group D rivals Haiti, Denmark and China. 

England’s women’s team will next face a July 28 clash with Denmark at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

They will then play China on August 1 at the Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide.