High hopes among FIFA, Fox Sports, and Telemundo for increased viewer interest in the 2026 men’s World Cup have been confirmed—and then some.
The networks said that their first two featured broadcasts of the tournament both drew historic audiences. Among the initial findings:
The June 11 tournament opener between Mexico and South Africa averaged 6.3 million viewers in the U.S. on Fox, according to preliminary figures. The viewership represented the most-watched group-stage match ever on English-language U.S. television that didn’t involve the American team.
The U.S. men’s national team opener Friday against Paraguay averaged 15.99 million viewers, again according to initial figures. That marked the most-watched World Cup match involving the U.S. men’s team in English-language U.S. broadcast history, according to Fox research of Nielsen data.
That Fox figure for the U.S.-Paraguay match also more than doubled a comparable figure for a U.S.-Wales match to help open the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That latter broadcast aired in a weekday timeslot for U.S. viewers and in the non-traditional late fall window used in that iteration of the tournament for climate-related reasons.
