Spain's World Cup Semifinal Victory Sets New U.S. English-Language TV Viewership Record
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has been a groundbreaking event for television viewership in the United States. A recent semifinal match between Spain and France shattered previous records, attracting an astounding 11.462 million viewers on Fox. This historic number establishes it as the most-watched FIFA Men's World Cup semifinal game ever broadcast in English on U.S. television. The remarkable achievement underscores a significant surge in soccer's popularity across the nation, setting a new benchmark for sports broadcasting.
The highly anticipated confrontation, held in Dallas, Texas, saw Spain emerge victorious over a formidable French team with a 2-0 score. Key goals were netted by Mikel Oyarzabal, who successfully converted a penalty, and Pedro Porro. This triumph propels Spain into the World Cup finals, marking their first appearance since 2010. The peak viewership during this thrilling encounter occurred at 4:45 p.m. ET, drawing an average of 15.560 million spectators, indicative of the intense interest generated by the game.
This year's tournament has consistently delivered record-breaking figures for both English and Spanish-language broadcasters in the U.S. The Spain-France match significantly surpassed the previous English-language semifinal record set in 2022 by the France-Morocco game, which had 6.595 million viewers on Fox. The recent semifinal's viewership also showed a substantial 76% increase compared to the average viewership of the 2022 FIFA World Cup semifinals. Furthermore, Fox's coverage of the United States Men's National Soccer Team's match against Belgium earlier in the tournament on July 6 drew 33,086,000 viewers, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history. Similarly, Telemundo's broadcast of the Mexico-England match on July 5 achieved the highest viewership ever for a Spanish-language TV broadcast in the U.S., according to NBCUniversal research.
The sustained high viewership across multiple record-breaking matches signals a burgeoning enthusiasm for international soccer in the American market. These figures not only reflect the captivating nature of the World Cup but also highlight the increasing cultural integration and mainstream appeal of the sport within the United States. As the tournament progresses towards its conclusion, anticipation remains high for potentially further viewership milestones, solidifying soccer's position as a major sporting event in the U.S. television landscape.
